Students in New York City don’t just need beer money, they need bodyguards too!
A protective Maryland father, concerned about crime in the Big Apple, hired what he called a “safety consultant” to keep an eye on his 19-year-old daughter — a freshman at New York University in Greenwich Village, where crime is rampant. on or near campus has increased dramatically over the past three years.
“I was very worried about New York, and I’m worried about her,” confided the 52-year-old real estate investor, who spoke on condition of anonymity. NYU was her “first and only” choice when it came to schools.
“I believe that information is the best disinfectant, and knowing which areas to go to and which areas to avoid” is “absolutely critical, especially for a young person traveling away from home for the first time through a city or even a situation navigates on his own. he said.
The ‘safety consultant’ will help the girl – who is studying business administration and art – navigate safely through the five boroughs.
“I don’t know if this is enough; I hope so,” the father added. “As a father, you want to provide your child with all the information you can get and hope that they make good decisions.”
After a weeks-long search, the father filled the 25-hour-a-week position last month and hired an experienced female private investigator. He won’t reveal her pay, but the going rate for such a gig in New York is more than $50 an hour.
Lauren Zucker-Pliner at Housekeeping staffa “discreet” employment agency in Pennsylvania, was called in by the loving father to find the security consultant. She took to Facebook on August 15 and wanted to hire “an agent” to keep an eye on a client’s daughter and “make sure she is safe at school.”
The candidate must “have knowledge of any active emergencies occurring in or around the city that a student may need to be alerted to.” The post also looked for someone “to guide her around the city and teach her which areas to avoid.”
The perfect person, the post explained, would “build a relationship with their daughter” through shared interests, “like yoga or Pilates.”
The job posting added: “One day you might be accompanying her to the Bronx Zoo, the next day you might just call her to check in and see where she’ll be all week, so you know to keep an eye on that keep areas.”
The NYU father’s concerns about his daughter’s safety are valid. In recent years, crime has increased at all NYU locations.
So far in 2024, NYU security has recorded 771 criminal incidents across the university’s campuses in Greenwich Village, Brooklyn Commons, Midtown Center, Upper East Side and Kips Bay – a 27% increase from the 606 recorded at this time moment in 2022 were reported.
From January 1 to September 30 this year, nine robberies, 10 felonies and five rapes occurred on and around the five NYU campuses.
Last year was even worse, with a total of 807 criminal incidents in the period from January 1 to September 30 – including 11 robberies, eight crimes and eight rapes.
According to NYU’s daily online crime log, all eight reported rapes last year occurred in student housing on the Village campus.
Of the five rapes reported this year, three occurred in student housing on the Village campus, one occurred in an academic building in the Village, while another was reported in nearby Washington Square Park.
NYU was unable to immediately provide crime data before 2022.
Crime in the NYPD’s 6th District, which covers NYU’s Village campus, is down 14% overall in each of the seven major crime categories. However, hate crimes have risen by 55%, from 11 last year to 17 this year, and sexual crimes other than rape have also increased by 11%, with 52 so far in 2024 compared to 47 in the same period in 2023 .
Recently, NYU softball player Alexa Very was groped by a man while jogging in Chelsea, ultimately breaking her hand while fending off him with punches.
Presented by The Post with NYU crime statistics, the father said, “Honestly, I don’t know how to feel about that. I didn’t know that. It scares me even more.”
This week, The Post spoke to students at NYU’s Village campus, where security guards were always present. Most supported the father’s protective instincts.
“It’s excessive, but I can’t blame them,” said French student Lou Germain, 26, who witnessed a violent attack nearby. “If you have the money and you want your child to be safe, why not?”
“I think it’s better to be safe than sorry,” said an 18-year-old freshman from Virginia.
Ashley Won, 21, of Queens, said she feels safe during the day, but at night “it can get scary” when addicts and vagrants wander onto campus from the park.
Michelle Ip, 20, said she is very “wary of my surroundings” but feels “relatively” safe at NYU. “I’m from the Bay Area, where homeless people can be crazy and bother you. But in New York they keep the craziness to themselves.”
