Yesterday at 2:20 a.m., a man was attacked by a group of young men who cut and stabbed him several times with a knife in the Jack In The Box parking lot on NE 50th Street and the Ave. Only two days before, at 2:30 a.m., two students were assaulted at gunpoint in the 4700 block of 16th Avenue NE.

A week before, on Jan. 9, a shooting occurred in front of the Irish Emigrant, a U-District bar located near NE 55th Street and the Ave. Students were informed of only one of these incidents via the University of Washington Police Department (UWPD), but what many don’t know is that Seattle Police Department (SPD) is actually in charge of all crime involving areas off-campus, and the UWPD only provides support when asked.

The UWPD and the SPD’s North Precinct divide and conquer when it comes to the safety of the 98105 zip code.

The UWPD operates in its own jurisdiction, which includes the UW campus, all UW-owned buildings (such as the UW Medical Center), the UW Tower and residence halls off-campus.

The north precinct of the SPD covers all of north Seattle, including the Ave and the area north of NE 45th Street — two areas heavily populated by UW students. Though the UW is within the city limits of Seattle, the UWPD is a separate entity and only deals with its own jurisdiction, unless expressly asked by the SPD.

“We are a state institution,” said UWPD Assistant Chief Ralph Robinson, who has been with the UWPD for 11 years. “The University pays our salaries; the Ave belongs to the City of Seattle.”

He noted that the city is responsible for the safety of the U-District, but that if help is needed, the UWPD is always available.

The two police departments do their best to share as much information as possible, Robinson said.

“A lot of the information that we send out is given to us by the Seattle Police Department,” Robinson said, but he added that there has to be enough information to make a complete report.

According to Sgt. Sean Whitcomb, supervisor of the Media Relations Unit at the SPD, the UWPD and SPD have programs in place to help facilitate communication.

The UWPD Incident Prevention Teams are one example of how the UWPD and SPD collaborate to keep the area safe.

The incident prevention teams usually operate Thursday through Saturday, according to the UW’s Office of External Affairs Web site.

The SPD asks the UWPD to patrol their jurisdiction north of NE 45th Street and to be stationed around the Greek community. The goal is to make sure the area stays safe for everyone.

Another coordination effort is the North of 45th Street Workgroup. This group is very important to the people of the University District, said Karen Ko, District Neighborhood Coordinator of the University District.

The group is compiled of affected parties in the University District, including a group of residents, a representative from the Greek community, a representative from both the UWPD and SPD and a representative from the UW’s Office of Regional Affairs.

The North of 45th Street Workgroup gives people a chance to come together and talk about issues that involve their interests and surroundings, said Robinson.

In the case of the Irish Emigrant and other bars on the Ave, ensuring that the information gets from SPD to students is important because they are places so heavily frequented by the student population.

“We have a blotter which people can subscribe to via RSS feed,” said Whitcomb.

The police blotter is updated frequently, and people can make it specific to the North Precinct. To access it, go to spdblotter.seattle.gov.

“It is a good way to give students who are living off-campus a sense of what’s going on,” Whitcomb said.

It has only been since 2003 that the UWPD has been allowed to patrol north of campus, overlapping SPD’s jurisdiction.

“We asked the city for permission after riots occurred during that time,” Robinson said.

While the UWPD will patrol in the Greek community and further north where many students live, Robinson stressed that UWPD’s actions are limited to student activity only, while all major crimes are deferred to SPD.

“That is still their primary response,” he said.

Reach reporter Celia Hunko at news@dailyuw.com.