<p>Security is the first thing I am trying to estimate before looking into any other features in selecting a good school for my D. I appreciate any help in understanding various security issues in/around UMCP. </p>
<p><a href="https://alert.umd.edu/latest.php%5B/url%5D">https://alert.umd.edu/latest.php</a></p>
<p>Security is much better than it was when I was a freshman. Police are always patrolling at night and the blue posts are all over campus. That being said, it is smart to walk around in a group no matter what college you are at. It is certainly a stupid and careless person who walks home alone across campus at 2 in the morning.</p>
<p>This topic should be stickied because I am sure those of us who have been around for yrs are tied of discussing.</p>
<p>SO in hopes that this can be stickied here goes:</p>
<ol>
<li>UMDCP campus is safe</li>
</ol>
<p>~~~If you decide to walk around College Park at 3 a.m. by yourself, of course you are placing yourself in a situation.</p>
<p>~~~Look at the alerts Midnight, 3 a.m., off campus, etc. These were not issues that occurred at 7 p.m. at night or with groups.</p>
<ol>
<li>UMDCP is an urban town. It is not VT in a town of 10K people.</li>
</ol>
<p>~~~Again, bigger the town, the more crime rate you will see.</p>
<ol>
<li>As a freshman, they are guaranteed on campus housing.<br></li>
</ol>
<p>~~~Visit the campus and you will see that they are a city within a city.</p>
<ol>
<li>Yeardley Love’s parents when they sent her to UVA never expected she would be murdered, Parents back in 07 never expected the VT Massacre. </li>
</ol>
<p>I know you want your child safe, I want my kid safe too. He has attended there for 3 yrs. He now lives off campus and rides a bike to and from the campus. I am not concerned.</p>
<p>UMDCP gets a really bad rap regarding crime.</p>
<p>I feel safer with our DS at UMDCP than if he went to Rutgers NB.</p>
<p>After 3 yrs at UMDCP, our DS does not know one person who has ever been attacked. His social group is quite large and differentiated. Scholars, AFROTC, and friends of friends.</p>
<p>Remember that college is huge…40K in total. The link you provided showed that it was multiple reports of the same crime.</p>
<p>OBTW, I had no problem sending our DD to VT even though the massacre occurred there.</p>
<p>Visit the campus!</p>
<p>And it looks like you are interested in UMBC as well. If you find Baltimore safe, then you should have no problem with College Park. LOL</p>
<p>I would send my kids to UMDCP WAAYYY before UMBC.</p>
<p>I would send my kid to UMCP before UMBC because it is a better school, not because it is safer. UMBC is in a pretty much suburban location, not near much of anything, and I would therefore expect it to be a lower crime area.</p>
<p>it’s fine. ive been down there at all hours of the night and there are always police out. as long as you stay within 2-3 miles of the campus you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>2school4school:</p>
<p>Yes. My D is interested in UMBC too but her first choice is UMCP. (Though I personally liked UMBC for its smaller campus and class size, UMCP is number one institution in MD and capable of offering more choices). </p>
<p>When I saw the following web site for alerts, I was really alarmed. </p>
<p><a href=“https://alert.umd.edu/latest.php[/url]”>https://alert.umd.edu/latest.php</a></p>
<p>There seems a taboo on discussing crime incidents. Long back when I moved to MD, I queried about area crime incidents at few rental offices. They are all tight lipped and advised me to call cops to know about any incident records. Obviously it must be for their business reasons and/or policy reasons not to induce panic in people around. I lived in Montgomery County for 2 years in a rental community where I witnessed and heard so many incidents. By chance, we are not victimized but on many occasions, we are out on roads in mid-night times for various emergency reasons. Friends advised and guided me to buy a home at a safer place.</p>
<p>I know that UMCP is a bigger and reputed school but these violent incidents moved me. I am not going to stop my D if she goes to UMCP if admitted but may discuss more on taking precautions to avoid any possible situations. My intention is to make my family and friends aware on happenings around.</p>
<p>Montgomery county is not the safest county in MD. As for the Realtor, as a realtor I can tell you we are not allowed by law to discuss this, all we can do is to inform you of websites to visit and allow you to do your own investigation. If we did it would be called REDLINING and we could lose our licenses.</p>
<p>Honestly, one statement struck out to me
</p>
<p>That leaves me to believe that you want her to go to UMBC and this is a reason to sway her decision.</p>
<p>Let’s be honest, we all as parents feel the same way. You are not re-inventing the wheel. We are all saying you are blowing this out of proportion regarding crime at UMDCP.</p>
<p>Again, look at the reports, several of them were off campus, and 90% occurred between 11:45 p.m. and 4 a.m. If your child is walking around between midnight and 4 a.m. in Baltimore by herself she wouldn’t be safe either.</p>
<p>You are her parent and we get the fear, but at this point I think you have made your decision about UMDCP and safety regardless of what anyone here will say.</p>
<p>OBTW, our DS is 5’10 and 145 lbs…he would be prime picking. Yet, he has been fine for 3 yrs. He also is savvy and when he is on campus at night ~has a class that ends at 9, and then rides his bike home off campus~he calls us on his cell the entire time of the ride, thus, he reduces his risk of being accosted.</p>
<p>Our DD at VT does the exact same thing when walking back from her job at 8 p.m. to her dorm.</p>
<p>Perpetrators don’t like to attack someone on the phone talking to somebody. Common sense needs to be applied no matter where you are.</p>
<p>I must say, because I am a woman, I am very in tuned to my surroundings. Keys are always in my hand with the key pointed out so I can use it as a weapon against an attacker. My car is always parked under a light, and I look in the back to make sure nobody is in the car before I enter it. Men rarely think like this when they are walking alone to a car in a parking lot or entering a building.</p>
<p>Yeah this needs to be stickied. If your D is scared of walking around at night tell them to call a umd police escort that will walk you anywhere you want on campus. I’ve done it once and they are on call 24/7, definitely safe. Don’t walk by yourself (a big group preferably), don’t carry bags, etc. It’s all common sense. I used to be scared, but not as much anymore and that’s saying something considering I’m a 4’10" little girl lol. Honestly though I don’t ever see cops patrolling the campus at night, but others on this board have said they do so idk.</p>
<p>UMBC has its crimes too. I think my sister said that while she was there someone was raped/sexually assaulted in the parking lot during the semester. Bottom line is there are crimes everywhere and you really can’t predict what may happen, like VT, Yeardley Love, etc.</p>
<p>Thanks for all nice opinions and good advises.</p>
<p>WISH YOU ALL HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011</p>
<p>ive never felt unsafe walking around campus with friends who go there, even at 4 in the morning after the buses have stopped runing and things start getting a tad sketch looking…ive only ever heard of one person getting mugged, but he was staggering around in a bad area on the other side of rte 1 being an idiot…i promise if you go to umcp, youll be fine…</p>
<p>This is an old thread but I think people above are a little naive about the security aspects. A group of kids tried to mug me and my friend on campus near memorial chapel last year. However it should not be a deciding factor onw here to go to school. It was sort of our fault we were out so late…And by the way the UMD police are corrupt and worthless they try to turn crime reports around on students…I know someone who was mugged and got the hell beat out of him and they charged with filing a false police report because he had been drinking.</p>
<p>Yeah seriously it seems like every 2 months there is something on the news about crime in college park. But I’m not letting that stop me. Just don’t act like an idiot and use common sense and you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>Don’t ever leave the campus</p>