Safety First

Now, I won’t lie to you and tell you that D.C. is the safest city in the world, cause, well, you read the news. However, this city is nowhere near as dangerous or scary as people make it sound. It’s just hype. The news tends to exaggerate things, and the worst thing you can do when you come to D.C. is to cower under a blanket in your apartment for fear of getting shanked…Besides, everyone should get their first stabbing over with. (Compleeetely kidding!)

So what should you do to ensure your safety? It requires the fine art of not being stupid. This is, unfortunately, harder for some than others. For instance, DO NOT go jogging at 11:30 at night with your iPod strapped to your arm. That makes you a target (and an easy one at that), and you are likely to be robbed. Now, I’ve only been robbed once in all of my 21 years here, and you know why it happened? Because I was twelve, and stupid. I thought riding my bike around the city with a brand new CD player, cell phone and twenty dollars in plain sight was a fantastic idea. Learned my lesson on that one.

Another tip: If you do feel unsafe, travel in groups, and if you’re by yourself, stay where the people are. When things do happen in this city, it is rarely to people who travel in groups. So, make sure you are don’t travel alone on your way to the club. Stay in well-lit, well populated areas. There are few people stupid enough to rob someone with 100 witnesses around.

Most importantly, know your areas! Crime in this city is relatively concentrated. This means that if you avoid certain parts of the city (that you would probably have no business in anyway), then you will be just fine. Pay attention to the news, and crime statistics. Keep hearing the words Anacostia and double homicide in the same sentence? Hmmm…you should probably limit your time in Anacostia. (Again, I can’t think of one reason that you would need to go there. All of The Washington Center’s housing, programming, etc. are in safe areas of the city.) You can also go to the Metropolitan Police Department’s website and check out the statistics online.

This last one may not be backed by statistics, and is more of a personal thing, but I feel the need to share. The National Mall is beautiful, especially at night. I know that plenty of visitors to D.C. journey to the Lincoln memorial at night to sit on the steps. But know this: The Mall, and the surrounding area downtown, has very few residential sections. Which means that while it is one of the most populated areas of the city during the day, if you got there at night, it is likely to be completed deserted. Seriously…it’s gonna be you and a couple of hobos for about seven blocks…and those hobos don’t want you wandering around their living room at odd hours of the night.

The rest of D.C.’s residents migrate to other parts of the city after work and happy hour, so, if you do decide to venture to the Mall at night, go earlier rather than later. Dusk is better than 3 a.m. And be careful. Tourists are targets too, and if you’re wandering around the Washington monument at 1:30 in the morning, you’re easy to spot as a tourist.

And, worth repeating, don’t believe the hype! We are a friendly city with a few bad neighborhoods, just like every other major American city. The worst thing in the world that you could do would be to avoid an experience like this one because you’re nervous about living here.

Glad I could help, until next time…