MUPD releases campus crime report
The report lists all crimes that have occurred on campus.
Published Oct. 6, 2009
The Campus Safety and Crime Report was made available to the community by the MU Police Department on Oct. 1.
The crime report is in compliance with the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, which states institutes of higher learning need to provide crime reports and statistics.
This report is issued annually and provides statistics on all the crime that occurred on campus in the preceding year. The report was posted last week on the MUPD Web site and includes crime statistics from 2006, 2007 and 2008.
MUPD Capt. Scott Richardson, who gathers and prepares the information for the report, said the report fulfills part of the police department's duty.
"We believe we need to notify the community," Richardson said.
The police department notifies the public of crime through other reports, such as the daily activity summary, news releases and clery releases.
Richardson said the daily activity summary and Campus Safety and Crime Report have similar information but differ in the timing and presentation of information.
"The daily log just reports crime for that day," Richardson said. "The Campus Safety and Crime Report shows crime that's been reported for the entire year and shows crime statistics."
Richardson said the clery releases are timely warnings that are also required under the Clery Act. The timely warnings inform people of crimes that could be a potential threat to the community. Often, the clery releases describe a suspect who has not yet been arrested.
"We release clery reports as timely warnings when we think the community is in danger," Richardson said.
When reporting crime, MUPD uses two sets of guidelines: the Missouri State Highway Patrol Uniform Crime Report and the clery report guidelines.
MUPD Capt. Brian Weimer said the two are completely different.
"You can't compare UCR and clery," he said.
Richardson said when comparing the daily summary log to the campus crime report, there might be discrepancies due to the daily summary log following the UCR guidelines and the crime report following clery guidelines. The two have different definitions for certain crimes.
"The UCR uses hierarchy rule," Richardson said. "If someone is arrested for driving while intoxicated and a minor in possession of alcohol, we would only report the DWI to the UCR."
Richardson also said the Clery Act keeps a report of all the charges involving alcohol violations and therefore shows a higher number of violations than the UCR. Besides alcohol violations, UCR and clery also have different definitions for rape, sexual assault and hate crimes. The Clery Act is more specific with sexual assault incidents.
The clery's definition for hate crimes has broadened and the new additions are in this year's report, Richardson said. Crimes that could be considered hate crimes include larceny, vandalism, intimidation and physical harm.
Among the information available in the Campus Safety and Crime Report is the definitions of violations and a list of resources and ways crime can be prevented.
Weimer said the resources are beneficial to students' wellbeing.
"It makes them aware of the activities that are happening on campus and lets them know how they can report a crime," Weimer said.