Columbia security guards have been going all vigilante of late, patrolling the neighborhood (or at least Broadway and Amsterdam between 111th and 116th) on foot.  Apparently, the new security protocol is a response to two recent muggings at 112th and Amsterdam.  One tipster reports seeing ten police officers and security guards on a single walk on Broadway from 114th to 106th.  If the plethora of patrollers isn’t making you paranoid yet, Barnard is alerting its students to neighborhood crime through ubiquitous posters.

A search of the Spec’s archives shows only one report of a mugging in the past five months, but a Public Safety account reveals a spate of crime in the new year.  It’s starting to feel a little early ’80s here on the Upper West Side, don’t you think?

Edited, 5:30pm: Apparently the Spec has quite a bit of coverage of recent crimes in the neighborhood.  Sorry, Spec!