A Rise in Burglaries and Assaults Worries Residents

At 1 a.m. Tuesday, Jennifer Bardi was awakened by a series of loud popping sounds near her Hollywood home. To her half-awake ears, she said, it sounded a lot like gunfire.

"When it's 1 in the morning, your first thought is that it's a gunshot," she said. Operating on the premise that it's better to be cautious, Bardi called the Prince George's Police Department's non-emergency line to report the sounds.

The police checked out the scene and reported nothing, and Bardi is the first to acknowledge that the source of the sound may well have been firecrackers left over from Fourth of July festivities. But she and others in College Park are concerned about safety in their city.

Despite an overall decrease in crime in Prince George's County, College Park has seen an increase in crime in certain categories, most notably, assault — there have been 35 cases reported so far in 2010, compared with 25 reported at this time last year. Citizen robberies and burglaries have also slightly increased, going from 14 to 16 and 75 to 87, respectively.

Nevertheless, Major Robert Liberati, commander for District 1, said crime as a whole isn't necessarily on the rise.

"It's a mixed bag," he said, noting that the most illegal activity occurs in the parts of town with the most foot traffic, namely, the area from Dartmouth Avenue to Beechwood Drive.

Regardless of the statistics, the police recommend that residents take a more active role in their own safety. Liberati said simple measures like not leaving valuables such as GPS devices, purses and book bags in cars, as well as ensuring that doors are locked, can go a long way.

"That's when stuff happens," Liberati said. "People walk down the street, and they're looking for a quick score, something they can get rid of at a pawn shop or sell on the street."

But Bardi, whose home was broken into last year, is taking more than the obvious precautions. Last night was not the first time she heard loud, gunshot like sounds. But it is the first time she's called the police about them.

Councilman Patrick Wojahn (District 1) encourages residents not only to call the police when there's an emergency, but also to use the non-emergency line when they see anything that looks suspicious.

"It's always best to keep the police informed," he said. "The better informed they are, the better they can do their work."

Wojahn also emphasized the importance of an active neighborhood watch group, saying that it's the best way to keep informed about what's going on in the community, and a useful means of sharing that knowledge with other residents and with the police. Because Bardi called the police, they now have an extra bit of information in helping to identify a possible trend, which would in turn help them stop it, he said.

"I felt like it just made sense to report it," Bardi said. "If more than one person reports these things, maybe something will get done to stop them."

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