Boston and State Police are urging residents who use the Esplanade to be aware after an alleged assault of a college student during the weekend.

The woman told investigators her assailant attacked her shortly after 11:30 p.m. Saturday night while she was sitting on a park bench.

The man apparently talked with her for quite some time before attacking her.

With the warm-up in the weather, with more and more people jogging, rollerblading and walking the paths of the Esplanade, police said all residents using the urban park space should be especially careful during the evenings.

There have been a number of assaults reported on the Esplanade since 2007.

In this most recent assault, the woman described her assailant as a male about 6 feet 1 or 6 feet 2, about 230 pounds, with short hair and missing front teeth.

She said he was between 25 and 30, police said.

We urge Beacon Hill and Back Bay women who walk in the Esplanade in the evenings to travel with a friend or  group of friends.

And as was suggested some months back by a Boston Police expert on personal safety who delivered a seminar on being aware and defending oneself in Beacon Hill and Back Bay, one must be completely aware at all times.

If you are wearing a Walkman or listening to music with an i-Pod, such distractions can often make it easy for such people to become victims of assault.

Our neighborhood is not dangerous but great caution must be exercised at all times.

The Esplanade attracts mostly sane people out to use the space during the nice weather.

But the Esplanade is a big city park space which attracts, from time to time, undesirables intent on wreaking havoc.

This is apparently what happened Saturday evening.

Let’s hope the perpetrator is caught.