When crime appeared to increase and timely warning notifications filled the inboxes of students this past January, the UW Police Department (UWPD) responded by having additional officers patrol the area north of North-

east 45th Street, an area where many students live off campus. However, these officers will not

patrol during the summer, and they may not return in the fall.

“We don’t have nearly as much student activity in that area north of 45th during the summertime,” said UWPD Assistant Chief Ray Wittmier. “Those attending during summer quarter tend to be a little more focused on school, and so you just don’t see as much partying or social activity.”

Two additional UWPD officers were added to the Incident Prevention Team (IPT), which patrols the area north of 45th, in January of this year, bringing the total number of UWPD officers on the team to four. One permanent IPT officer patrols the area from 5:30 p.m. to 3:30 a.m., and the additional three members of the team supplement their patrol from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. seven nights a week.

Two IPT officers will patrol the area this summer, and it has not yet been decided whether the additional units will return in the fall.

“We usually have a little more emphasis right at the beginning of the school year because it’s traditionally a little more active time over there,” Wittmier said. “It will probably start off with four [officers] and drop to two, and, as needed, we would [increase] to four.”

The IPT is centrally funded by the university. The UWPD does not have authorization for four full-time IPT officers in its budget; the vice provost for Student Life funds the majority of the positions. Financing the team cost approximately $76,000 for the first three months of this year.

“All of those officers are paid out of central funding, so there’s not a guarantee if the money dries up in the administration,” Wittmier said about the fiscal future of the IPT.

Gary Quarfoth, associate vice provost of the Office of Planning and Budgeting, said the IPT should not be affected by the budget cuts for the fiscal year 2010.

While the IPT will be reduced to two UWPD officers during the summer, it has not yet been determined whether those officers will patrol north of 45th every night due to a lower student population. It is possible that on certain nights of the week, only one UWPD officer will patrol the area.

Panhellenic adviser Cori Hammock said that roughly half of the Greek community north of 45th leaves during the summer months. She believes that two officers will be sufficient for the summer but would be concerned if the additional members of the team did not return next fall.

“It’s a larger area to patrol during the school year, and I think that it would be very hard for everyone to feel accommodated with two officers,” Hammock said. “The response time is very short, and reducing it to two officers [in the fall] may have an impact in those areas. I think that [students] have come to expect to see the four officers in the IPT during the week.”

While timely warning notifications have been scarce these past weeks, some students feel the additional IPT officers are still needed in the area.

“A lot of the e-mails we get say that the perpetrator was not affiliated with the University of Washington, so the fact that students are leaving for the summer won’t get rid of that threat,” said junior Patrick Morehouse, who lives north of Northeast 45th Street. “Having two more officers, even if it helps in one instance, still helps. When it comes to people’s safety and protection, it’s not something you want to gamble on.”

Reach editorial assistant Lexie Krell at news@dailyuw.com.