By Angelo Verzoni
BU News Service

BROOKLINE, Mass. — Despite four armed robberies and a stabbing nearby since late September, the area of North Brookline, where many Boston University students rent off-campus apartments, remains unserviced by the university’s security escort service.

The service, which provides students with an appointed walker to avoid traveling alone at night, is only offered from one on-campus location to another. Assistant Dean of Students and supervisor of the service, John Battaglino, said over the phone Monday that these crimes are “terrible” and “unprecedented.”

But Battaglino emphasized that “there has to be delineation to where we can service” and the university’s jurisdiction only goes so far. “We encourage students to live on campus,” he said.

In an effort to ease students’ alarm and stave off future crimes, BU and Brookline police departments issued statements last Tuesday assuring there will be an increase of patrols in the North Brookline area. Similar promises were made in the fall, when a string of three armed robberies occurred just blocks from where last week’s stabbing took place. There was yet another armed robbery in the same area on Jan. 19. For many, this stream of violent crimes begs the question: Should more be done?

After the most recent attack, Brookline police arrested two men last week on armed robbery charges after they allegedly used a credit card stolen Tuesday from a Boston University researcher to buy an MBTA Charlie Card.

Six BU students living in off-campus apartments in the North Brookline area were asked recently if they felt the university’s security escort service should be extended to include off-campus areas. Here are their responses:

 

This story originally ran on Boston.com