That time we got robbed in Baltimore

Then: Whenever anyone asked me if I ever felt unsafe living in Baltimore, I replied honestly, No.

Now: After my experience last night, my answer would be entirely different.

7:10 p.m., Penn Station: A friend and I get off the JHMI shuttle and stand waiting for the Circulator purple route. We plan on attending the Rihanna concert for an arts review. It’s light out, there’s no traffic and we are happy to be off campus. The circulator arrives a few minutes later and we board the bus, seating ourselves in front of the rear entrance, facing the driver. The bus is practically empty, besides three young guys scattered around the bus.

A few stops later the guy in front of us begins playing with his phone, playing music loudly and then abruptly stopping. He does this twice and looks to the other guys. I ignore it, hoping they will just get off the bus.

7:19 p.m.: Centre Street and St. Paul: They stand up and move to the exit behind us. As the doors open, one of them shoves between our shoulders and rips the phone from my friend’s hand. They then push out the door and one of them runs north, in the direction of Peabody. We are shocked, and look to the remaining passengers for help but nobody seems to notice.

7:21 p.m.: The first 911 call. My friend calls 911 from my phone and tells the bus driver about what happened. The bus driver radios in for another bus and stops at E. Conway and Light Street to wait for the police. There are security cameras on the bus. The dispatcher tells us that the police are on their way. At this point my friend decides to terminate service to her phone and calls Verizon. We wait for the police to arrive. An hour passes.

8:12 p.m.: The second 911 call. Realizing that it’s been almost an hour, we call 911 again. The dispatcher again tells us that Baltimore Police are on their way. She then asks us, why didn’t you call back after 20 minutes. The bus driver stays with us even though her shift is over. Another bus driver arrives HE reports that the purple route has been experiencing a lot of phone thefts, so much so that the bus company has considered putting up signs to tell passengers to hide their phones.

8:25 p.m.: The third 911 call. I call this time, upset, and ask when the police will arrive. They’re on their way.

8:35 p.m.: The bus driver has to leave and points us in the direction of a parked police car we see across the street, next to Bubba Gump’s Shrimp. We walk over and there’s no one in the car.

8:38 p.m.: The fourth 911 call. The dispatcher tells us that the calls are prioritized. She then advises us to walk to the police station. However, when we inform her that we do not know where the police station is, she does not to give us directions and tells us that technically since the incident occurred one the bus, it’s a MTA police issue. At this point, the police officer returns to his car and we decide to approach him.

8:45 p.m.: The officer radios in and tells us another officer has been searching for us and is on his way. We wait with the officer. A half hour passes. It’s cold in the harbor area and the only place to use the restroom is Hooters. (By the way, rats in Baltimore are rather large especially at night.)

9:16 p.m.: Another police officer approaches. We report that we are waiting for the specific officer assigned to our case to come. He asks us: why didn’t you report it right away? We inform him that we did. 2 hours ago.

9:25 p.m.: The officer tells us the other officer will be there in five minutes.

9:35 p.m.: The officer we have been waiting with decides to take our report. He takes my phone number and our description of the incident.

9:45 p.m.: The other officer finally arrives but this officer has already taken our information. He hands us a report. Sorry for any inconvenience, he says.

9:47 p.m.: We take a taxi ride home to Hopkins. Ironically, the Rihanna concert had been postponed.

Things I learned from this experience: the term for stealing an iPhone is called “Apple-picking.” The Circulator is anything but charming. The drivers, on the other hand, are some of nicest people I’ve met . Also, thank you Hopkins security for being there.

I no longer feel safe in Baltimore. The reason for this feeling, however, is not because of the incident on the Circulator; it is because of the utter lack of response on the part of Baltimore Police Department. Granted, it was not a life-threatening emergency, but what if it was?  Would the department still be—sorry for any inconvenience—then?