Yesterday University and Charlottesville Police began an indefinite program of joint patrol efforts around the Corner area that will take place every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night.
Three pairs of officers, each pair consisting of a University and Charlottesville police officer, will patrol three different sections of the Corner area starting in the early evening and lasting until 3 a.m., University Police Sgt. Melissa Fielding said.
"They will primarily be from University Avenue down 14th Street and up to Rugby Road," Fielding said. "The primary objective of this program is to increase police presence."
A University officer will join the regular Charlottesville police officer on the Corner from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m., according to Charlottesville Lt. Gary Pleasants, who is in charge of the program.
A Charlottesville and University officer pair will also patrol the Rugby Road area from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m., and another pair will patrol Wertland Street from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m., Pleasants said.
"The program was set up at the request of the University," he said. "There have been some assaults and armed robbery in the Wertland Street area last year."
After the University Police came to the Charlottesville Police for help, Pleasants said he looked at crime data from the areas around the University and came up with the three areas of the Corner he thought would need more police presence.
While the spike in crime last year did precipitate the new joint patrol, Pleasants pointed out that the police see spikes in crime on a cyclical basis.
"Back in the eighties, it was about ten times worse," he said.
While concerns for student safety led to the institution of the program, the police patrols also will be on the lookout for inebriated students, Fielding said.
"The officers will be responding to complaints of loud parties and other things," she said.
Pleasants said he puts the purpose of these officers much more bluntly.
"We'll be on the lookout for anything that is not legal or is suspicious," Pleasants said.
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