27 CommentsWhat’s with all the guns these days? C’mon criminals. What is this, the 80’s? Below is the security alert released by Dean Terry Martinez. Bwog will update as we learn more.
The New York City Police Department has notified us that on November 19, 2011 at about 2:05 a.m., two students were the victim of a robbery on W. 122 St. near Amsterdam Avenue. The victims were talking when they were approached by two males. One of the suspects displayed a firearm, while the second took the purse of one of the victims. The suspects fled south on Amsterdam Ave. in a black sedan.
The Police Department has supplied the following descriptions:
Suspect # 1- Male/Black/5’8”/20’s/wearing a dark hooded jacket/light colored baseball cap/jeans/sneakers Displayed a silver automatic.
Suspect # 2- Male/Black/30’s/6’-6’3”/medium build/ dark jacket/baseball cap/jeans/sneakers.
If you have any information about this crime, contact the 26Pct. Detective Unit at 212-678-1351. If you observe anyone acting in a suspicious manner or you feel threatened in any way, call the police immediately by dialing 911.
Loading …
27 Comments
@listen most of you guys at this school at street smart…you have your heads up your a**es talking about books or how much you love obama…wake up and smell the coffee, obama not gonna save this country before he ruins it and neither will he save you from being mugged at the end of the day
@... LOL WUT.
@A stupid person had an opinion Ignore it and it’ll go away. Hopefully.
@i don't know about you guys but i’m craving some terry-aki wings
@Anonymous If I’m getting this right, you guys expect Columbia security to patrol every corner of each campus, and everywhere between them (because, er, 122nd and Amsterdam isn’t even Columbia)? You’d have to have people going from 110th and Manhattan Ave to 168th and Broadway! Unrealistic, and unmanageable. We’re in a city, surrounded by people who don’t go to Columbia. Of course it’s dangerous.
At least we’re not in New Haven.
@yo The School of Social Work, Plimpton, Teacher’s College, and JTS are all within a block of 122nd and Amsterdam. There are multiple Public Safety security cameras there as well. So, perfectly within the purview of Public Safety. Besides which, I used to live at Broadway and La Salle, where there actually are no Columbia buildings, and there was a Public Safety SUV parked in front of my building pretty much all the time. Public Safety also already patrols the Medical Center. People also don’t tend to walk out by themselves at night between campuses since we have this cool thing called the subway, which conveniently has its own dedicated Bureau of the NYPD, so no need to patrol every inch between 110th and 168th. Not unmanageable or unrealistic, you silly face!
@Anonymous So basically what you’re saying is that security is actually great in the general campus area right now?
Anyway, I used to live right next to the medical school, and no, there were no public safety officers around. And if you think the subway is safe at 2 am…well, I hope you never have the chance to find out otherwise. You’re never going to feel totally safe in the city. It’s not really the university’s responsibility to hold your hand 24/7 just because you’re near a campus building. Crimes like this couldn’t be stopped even if security were stepped up. It’s a risk you take living in NYC and a risk you take staying out late at night anywhere. It doesn’t mean that the victims deserved to be mugged of course, but it is, inevitably, unavoidable. What’s “silly,” silly face, is to believe otherwise.
P.S. There’s grad student housing right near Broadway and LaSalle, as well as Prentis Hall on 125th.
@more thoughts 122st & Amsterdam is fine, but at 2:30am, there are few individuals on the street, so you can reason that a robber is at least more LIKELY to act. The point is: security will never be perfect – we need for students to be more cognizant of their environment and understand the risks associated with traveling in particular areas at particular times. I am by no means excusing the perpetrator here – I am simply looking for a solution to this problem giving the reality of the situation.
Increasing security is not necessarily the answer (i.e. spending money and increasing personnel is not always the answer). A smart robber will simply wait until a public safety car is out of sight and go after the usual: a student walking alone at night, preferably distracted by, for example, their cell phone. We need to arm students with knowledge and instill in them an ability to assess the risks of a particular situation. A real reform could be the following: have a little security session during NSOP with some statistics about the likelihood of a robbery occurring at different times of the night and different areas – we need to get some objectivity into this situation instead of the usual “yeah man – Morningside Park after midnight is a no-go.”
@Anonymous First of all I get the joke part, but there’s also a not joke part that you hear from a lot of people that’s worth examining. If him quoting Antione Dodson annoyed me I would have said so. People like you frustrate me, those who don’t actually read content and comment anyway.
Secondly, don’t equate robbers to rip currents. Actually for your sake I’m going to tear apart your metaphor. Rip currents aren’t scared off by lifeguards, nor do they move around chasing swimmers in black sudans. Swimmers also choose to swim- it’s not as though they require it to go anywhere. People do actually live up as far as 122nd and unless you expect them to take a cab two blocks when they’re coming back from a bar, there’s no real way to avoid walking through an area with “riptides.” It’s not as though she was walking alone either- the victim in this situation actually seems a lot smarter than other cases I’ve heard of over the years.
Now, if there were people who were paid to control rip currents that suddenly stopped taking care of a place where people swim and then people start drown, is it really the swimmers fault? It’s totally reasonable to expect that your tax and tuition dollars have your back around campus. Unfortunately the system is being tested and it’s failing miserably. This is the third armed robbery of a student in our area in the past two months and if that doesn’t bother your there’s something wrong. Saying that the victim is at fault empowers the attacker and takes blame off the people that should be around preventing crime. The important question is: why does this keep happening, and how can we improve security so it doesn’t?
@Anonymous You obviously aren’t aware of the “reply” button.
I’m not blaming the victim–I am disregarding the useless system of fault altogether. If you can’t understand what my metaphor meant from what I said earlier and this last little clue I’ve left for you, then you don’t belong at this caliber school.
Also, with an attitude like that, you’d be served well by heeding what I’ve had to say–unless you’d prefer to be the subject of a future security alert simply out of principle.
@Anonymous If you’re walking outside at 2:30 AM, you basically have this coming. Hide your kids, ide your wife, and hide your husband, cause they muggin everybody
@Anonymous You’re right, you have to accept the fact that any time past midnight in Harlem belongs to black people with guns that want to rob you. Let’s derail the root issue of the high amount of security issues these past two months and blame the victim. More importantly make sure to constantly reassure yourself that, because you’re so much smarter than this person who got robbed, you’ll never be in a position where you could have a gun pointed at your face.
What do you say to the other two people who’ve been robbed? If you’re sitting outside of your brownstone at 10:30 PM, you basically have this coming? If you’re inside your dorm at 7:30 PM, you basically have this coming?
@Anonymous People like you frustrate me. First of all–the above comment is clearly a joke. You should have understood that–unless you never watch anything on youtube.
Secondly, there’s things that are safe to do and things that aren’t safe to do. If I go swimming in an area that is rife with rip currents, the question is not one of fault. The important question is: Could I have been more careful and avoided the situation altogether? That is question that you should always be asking yourself.
@Anonymous columbia is going to have to significantly increase its security north of 120th street as more and more of the campus is built there.
@Anonymous gentrification will take care of that
@yo light people please be more specific; “Male/Black/5’8”/20’s/wearing a dark hooded jacket/light colored baseball cap/jeans/sneakers” describes me and most of the black males on campus
@Anonymous I wish I could like this post!!! I was thinking the exact same thing along with… these suspects always have the same description… black male, hoodie, about 6 feet
@Erm What should it be? “Black male/6 feet/aquiline nose/slight curvature in the upper ear.”. If I were being robbed at gunpoint by one of these guys, I probably wouldn’t notice the delicate contours of his jaw.
@how about lazy good for nothing tricksters, crack smoking swindlers, big butt having, wide nose, breathing all the white mans air, they eat up all the chicken, they think they’re the best dancers…and they stink.
@Chappelle's Show I get the reference, but I don’t think it’s appropriate beyond watching season DVDs in your room.
@Anonymous They can’t be morre specific or that would be racist racial profiling
@oh please if it were a white guy, the description would be the EXACT SAME, except substituting “white” for “black” GET OVER IT.
@yo light person find a sense of humor. my feelings weren’t hurt so yours shouldn’t be.
also, white on white crime? in harlem? teehee
@It's always fun to be addressed as “light person.” I think you should probably avoid this, for the same reason “darkie” fell out of fashion.
@CC'13 we’re not racist, we love white people! ford trucks, apple pie, bald eagles!
@Anonymous It is the university’s responsibility to make this neighborhood safer *as soon as possible*. Each crime committed makes it more likely others will join in on the fun.
@Vigilante I think its time we start talking to Monkey Man.