No marked increase or decrease in campus crime, report states

The annual Campus Crime and Safety Report was released last week.

By Juana Summers

Published Sept. 25, 2007

Crime on the MU campus has remained fairly constant, with no marked decreases according to the latest update to the MU Police Department's Campus Crime and Safety Report.

The report is publicly available on the department's Web site.

"The police department always strives to keep the campus safer," MU police Capt. Brian Weimer said.

"The numbers are simply from arrests," he said.

Weimer said that MUPD works with other agencies on campus, like the MSA Safety Committee, to discuss other safety issues and to make sure people feel safe.

Each year, MUPD publicly releases the Campus Crime and Safety Report, in accordance with the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act.

The act, initially named for a student killed in her dorm room in 1986, requires colleges and universities to disclose campus crime statistics and safety information, according to the text of the report.

Burglaries have steadily decreased over the past two years.

In 2004, 34 burglaries were reported on the MU campus. In 2005, that number decreased to 26. In 2006, that number further decreased to 21 cases reported.

But while burglaries decreased, reported robberies remained constant.

In 2006, liquor law violations resulting in an arrest decreased to 140 instances.

n 2005 there were 215, and in 2004, there were 288 violations resulting in arrests.

But instead, the number of instances resulting in a referral rose to 496 from 290 in 2005.

Instances of arson on campus rose from four per year in 2004 and 2005 to seven in 2006, but Weimer said the number of arson instances is not considerable enough to consider the change a trend.

Since 2004, there have been no reported hate crimes on the MU campus.

In 2004, according to the text of the report, three hate crimes were reported.

Two of the hate crimes reported were based on an individual's sexual orientation.

Another incident was based on the individual's ethnicity.

Jordan Paul, MSA Director of the Department of Student Services, is part of the organization's campus safety committee.

Because the committee has not met this semester, Paul said he had not reviewed the campus crime and safety report. But he also said he thinks the campus is relatively safe.

"I think that given everything that has the potential for crime here, and since we have such a high concentration of people in one place, the crime rate is relatively low," he said. "Based on observing things, it seems like there isn't a lot of violent crime."

Paul commented that although there are many incidents involving alcohol, there are few incidents involving battery, assault or rape.