I’ve recently inquired two community police officers in our area in regards to the recent rise in crime incidents and their possible correlations with the UMD’s winter break. I thought I should share their comments with you all. Hope you will find them useful.
Officer Melanie Senobio (Sarita), North College Park CERT Officer
There is a correlation between the student housing being broken into due to the students being away. I will forward this information to Officer Taylor who is the COPS officer for downtown CP. Also I have gone with Officer Taylor when she conducts follow ups with the victims of residential burglaries. We have noticed that some of the doors were left opened and unlocked. Before the fall semester started Officer Taylor and I spoke with new students and advised them of some safety precautions that they could take. Maybe another meeting like this would be helpful to the students.
Officer Taylor, Nashawn, South College Park COPS Officer
There has been B & E’s both during the winter break and while school is in session. However, there were more during the winter break. We encourage residence to lock their doors, windows and be aware of all their surroundings at all times. We encourage them to have adequate lighting outside of their homes and perhaps invest in an alarm system that has an access control installation in Miami.
There are also a large amount of police presence in the city of College Park alone. We have contract college park cars who are Prince Georges County Police officers as well as the patrol cars of Prince Georges County Police and the University of MD police cars.
College Park has one of the largest number of police presence in one area. However, police cannot be everywhere all of the time. This is why we need the cooperation of the citizens to be the eyes and ears of the police department to assist in catching the bad guys and keep our community safe.