The Feb. 12 murder-suicide tragedy that occurred off the university’s campus, on 36th Avenue, gained a great deal of media attention and promises from Maryland leaders that this violence would not stand.
At the vigil held for the deceased students, University President Wallace Loh pledged that the college would take action to prevent mental health issues from resulting in violence again.
Loh said in a Feb. 20 statement in the Diamondback that though the crime rate on campus has declined over the past five years, with robberies and burglaries down by more than 50 percent, mental health needs of college students are increasing across the country.
Loh went on to say that measures need to be taken to offer more help to students facing mental health issues, help that Dayvon Maurice Green apparently did not receive before his affliction led to tragedy.
Though Loh said the school intends to make changes to increase the amount of mental health help available, Loh’s most important promise in the Feb. 20 statement was to expand the University’s police jurisdiction to include more off campus neighborhoods that could be at risk.
“Our goal this semester is to expand campus police coverage to city neighborhoods that are not currently within their jurisdiction, but where many students live, such as the area where the shooting occurred,” Loh said in the Diamondback statement.
Loh said that these changes will “increase the welfare and security of students” by offering more police patrol of areas that students live in, but that may not be very close to campus.
Though Loh claimed in the statement that “now is the time to follow through,” the proposed measures have not been implemented, almost two months after the murder-suicide.
“All parties involved are supportive of the expansion, it simply takes some time to iron out the details of how it would be implemented,” Sgt. Aaron Davis with the College Park Police Department said. “Such as how far the jurisdiction will be expanded, how many more officers will be needed, and what funding is necessary.”
Funding may be one of the main roadblocks of expanding the amount of off campus police.
“Implementing a larger jurisdiction without the proper funding and staffing would not benefit anyone,” Davis said.
College Park Police are, however, confident that the expanded jurisdiction will increase student safety if and when it happens.
“Living on Hartwick Road has definitely been an experience in terms of safety,” junior journalism major Drew Rauso said. “My roommates got jumped this year and police were slow to respond. Having more police or at least more police near Hartwick would definitely make people feel safer.”
Davis said that the increase in patrolled areas around campus will mean that police will be able to report and act on any crime observed, but that College Park will continue to work with Prince George’s County Police Department in order to cover the off campus neighborhoods.
“We have, and will continue to be strong partners with UMD PD,” Lt. William Alexander with Prince George’s County Police said.