UW students say they are more scared than ever before. One neighborhood watch group hopes it can help eliminate some of the fear on campus with changes to its patrol times.

Last August, a woman was attacked in the stairwell of her Langdon Street apartment. Another was sexually assaulted in late November on Observatory Drive, and yet another in December on the 500 block of North Carroll Street. UW students say the attacks are impossible to ignore.

"I never thought I could be a possible victim of like sexual assault or any other kind of violent crime, but it's happening to kind of a lot of students now," says Rochelle Butterfield.

"They've been getting progressively worse I think," says another UW student, Rachel Ford.

UW's Greek community is about to resume a neighborhood watch group that it started last fall but organizers took some criticism for taking volunteers off the streets too early. Some students complained that patrolling from 10 p.m to 2 a.m. was a waste of time because many assaults occur after bar time. Now the program is responding by extending hours and adding a new awareness campaign.

"We recently changed those hours," says watch group organizer Alex Sheridan. "They used to be ten to two, but after the Carroll Street abduction, it happened a little later in the evening, we decided it would be best that we're out that extra hour when people are coming home from the bars . But just because the weather is nicer doesn't mean the streets are any safer."

Volunteers from sororities and fraternties will walk Langdon each Friday and Saturday evening from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. through the end of the semester. The group is also launching a new public safety campaign.

"One through the launching of the website, which is going to serve as a database for safety resources, safety statistics," says Sheridan. "The other is through the distribution, production of lawn posters which we hope to have lining all the residences up and down Langdon."

Langdon's watch program could soon be copied in other neighborhoods, where students say they would like to see more people on the street.

"By like Park Street I think is where a lot of stuff has been going on and I'm over there quite frequently so it is pretty scary," says student Rachel Ford.

Park Street near Spring and College Court is another neighborhood that is organizing its own watch group. They're going to have their first meeting later this spring.

The safety website is target="_blank">http://www.uwgreek.com/community/LangdonNightWatch.html/.