College kids in New York City don’t just need beer money — they need bodyguards!
A protective Maryland father concerned about crime in the Big Apple hired what he called a “security consultant” to keep a watchful eye on his 19-year-old daughter — a freshman at New York University in Greenwich Village, where crime on or near campus has surged in the last three years.
“I was very apprehensive of New York, and I am worried about her,” confided the 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 information is the best disinfectant, and knowing what areas to go to, what areas to avoid” is “absolutely critical, particularly for a young person navigating a city or even a situation on their own for the first time away from home,” he said.
The “security consultant” will help the girl — who is studying business and the arts — safely navigate the five boroughs.
“I don’t know whether this is enough; I hope it is,” added the dad. “As a father, you want to equip your child with all the information you can possibly get them, and hope they make good decisions.”
After a weekslong search, the father filled the 25-hours-a-week position last month, hiring an experienced female private investigator. He would not divulge her pay but the going rate for such a gig in NYC is more than $50 per hour.
Lauren Zucker-Pliner at Household Staffing, a “discreet” employment agency in Pennsylvania, was retained by the doting dad to find the security consultant. She took to Facebook Aug. 15, looking to hire “an officer” to keep an eye on a client’s daughter and “ensure she will be safe while at school.”
The candidate should possess “knowledge of any active emergency situations happening in or around the city that a college student should be warned about.” The posting also sought someone “to walk her around the city and educate her on what areas she should avoid.”
The perfect person, the posting explained, would “build a relationship with their daughter” through shared interests, “such as yoga or Pilates.”
Added the job posting: “One day, you may be accompanying her to the Bronx Zoo, the next you may be just calling her to check in and see where she will be for the week, so you are aware to keep an eye on those areas.”
The NYU dad’s concern about his daughter’s safety is justified. Over the last couple of years, crime has been on the rise across all of NYU’s locations.
So far in 2024, NYU security has recorded 771 criminal incidents at the university’s Greenwich Village, Brooklyn Commons, Midtown Center, Upper East Side and Kips Bay campuses — up 27% from the 606 reported at this point in 2022.
From Jan. 1 to Sept. 30 this year, there have been nine robberies, 10 felony assaults, and five rapes on and around the five NYU campuses.
Last year was even worse, with 807 criminal incidents overall during the Jan. 1 to Sept. 30 period — including 11 robberies, eight felony assaults and eight rapes.
All eight reported rapes last year occurred in student housing on the Village campus, according to NYU’s online daily crime log.
Of the five rapes reported this year, three unfolded inside student housing facilities on the Village campus, one happened in an academic building in the Village, while another was reported in nearby Washington Square Park.
NYU could not immediately provide crime data prior to 2022.
Crime in the NYPD’s 6th Precinct, which covers NYU’s Village campus, is down 14% overall, and in each of the seven major crime categories. However, hate crimes are up 55%, from 11 last year to 17 this year, and sex crimes other than rape are also up 11%, with 52 so far in 2024 compared to 47 during the same period in 2023.
Recently, NYU softball player Alexa Very was groped by a man while on a jog in Chelsea, and ended up breaking her hand while fending him off with punches.
Presented with NYU crime stats by The Post, the dad said, “I don’t know how to feel about that, frankly. I did not know that. It scares me a lot more.”
This week, The Post spoke to students on NYU’s Village campus, where security guards were ever present. Most supported the father’s protective instincts.
“It is excessive, but I can’t blame them,” said French grad student Lou Germain, 26, who witnessed a violent assault nearby. “If you’ve got the money for it and you want your kid to be safe, why not?”
“I think it’s better to be safe than sorry,” offered an 18-year-old freshman from Virginia.
Ashley Won, 21, from Queens, said she does feel safe during the day, but at night, “it can get scary” with addicts and bums wandering to campus from the park.
Michelle Ip, 20, said she’s very “wary of my surroundings” but feels “relatively” safe at NYU. “I’m from the Bay Area, where the homeless can be crazy and they’ll bother you. But in New York, they keep the crazy to themselves.”