The UWPD is doubling its patrol presence in the Greek community in response to the recent spike in assaults and robberies around the UW campus, UWPD Assistant Chief Ralph Robinson said yesterday.

Four officers will now patrol the areas north of campus on five nights per week. Officers will also be on patrol Sundays and Mondays, days during which the UWPD did not previously patrol.

“More boots on the ground makes a difference,” Robinson said.

UW police sent an e-mail to members of the community Tuesday night detailing two more attacks — the fourth and fifth of the month.

“The Seattle Police Department has shifted both North Precinct resources as well as city-wide resources to the area,” according to the e-mail. “This upsurge of violent activity is unacceptable.”

Officials at the Seattle Police Department could not be reached to comment on how they plan to utilize the extra resources.

Despite the upsurge of violence, Robinson said that in the U-District and Greek community as a whole, crime has gone down in the last couple of years.

“What you have is a lot of high-profile incidents that are happening in a short period of time,” he said.

In an e-mail to The Daily, Teresa Lord Hugel, Executive Director of the Greater University Chamber of Commerce, acknowledged that the recent crime notification e-mails make it seem as though crime is increasing, but that may not actually be the case, because there has always been some level of crime in the community.

“We continue to work hard as a community in collaboration with SPD and neighborhood groups to do everything we can,” she said.

On Jan. 26, a victim was walking northbound on the 5200 block of 17th Avenue Northeast when two male suspects asked to use his phone, according to the e-mail alert. When the victim refused, the suspects hit him with a fist and stole his backpack.

Seattle police are also investigating a Jan. 24 robbery on Northeast 45th Street and 9th Avenue Northeast, when two male suspects approached the victim, demanded money and struck him in the face, taking the victim’s wallet and $40 cash.

It is unclear whether the crimes are related.

In addition to increasing patrols, Robinson said the UWPD is making efforts to reach out to the community. Tonight, police will meet with UW officials and members of the Greek community in a closed meeting at the Beta Theta Pi fraternity house on the corner of 17th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 47th Street to talk about how to stay safe, Robinson said.

A member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity house was assaulted with a gun outside of the house just 12 days ago, said a spokesperson for the Interfraternity Council.

“The on-campus area, we haven’t really had any major incidents in a while, so I feel that it’s very safe on campus,” Robinson said. “We have had, obviously, challenges off campus. So we would ask people to follow the crime tips we put out in terms of the timely warnings.”

Reach reporter Maks Goldenshteyn at news@dailyuw.com.