The annual campus crime statistics reports for Ball State University are comparable from 2004 to 2005 and nothing in the report stands out, Director of Public Safety Gene Burton said.Dave Fried, director of Student Rights and Community Standards, agreed that the numbers were consistent, and said he didn't see any trends.Fried said he didn't see any significance in the small increases in liquor, drug and illegal weapons possession violations on campus."Particularly in weapons, with such a small number [four] to begin with, an increase of that much [five] is not significant," Fried said. "Considering how many students we have on campus, to only have nine is a pretty good record."Burton said regardless of the minor changes in the crime statistics since last year, the University Police Department will still analyze the results and decide if any action should be taken. The UPD will internally discuss the results when it has examined them further.The federal government requires all colleges and universities to collect crime statistics under the 1998 Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act. The Clery Act is named after a Lehigh University freshman who was raped and killed in a residence hall in 1986.Statistics from individual universities are sent to the U.S. Department of Education, which posts the reports online at ope.ed.gov/security.Ball State uses the statistics in several ways, Fried said."We do provide the information to current students and faculty and staff and also to applicants online and to anyone applying for employment as well," he said. "Give them a sense of the nature of the campus and allow them to make a determination for themselves of whether it is a safe environment. It helps us to provide that information to them."The UPD posts the information on its Web site in the "About Us" section. Fried said he also provides the information to the Office of Student Affairs."If there was anything that would really jump out at us, we would certainly discuss what might be causing that particular increase or decrease and take appropriate action," Fried said.The statistics are divided into two categories: criminal arrests, which are handled by police, and judicial referrals, which are handled internally by the university according to the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities. In addition, violations are divided into three locations: on campus, non-campus buildings such as fraternity and sorority houses, and public property, which includes streets on and around campus.All reported incidents of serious crimes such as murder, rape and arson, are counted in the report even if there is no known suspect, Fried said. Alcohol, drug, and weapons violations are counted according to the number of individuals included in the incident, he said. If one drug violation incident included five people, the report would count all five as separate incidents.The statistics can sometimes be misleading, Fried said, because the public property category does not take into account private property off campus, such as houses and apartments. Therefore, incidents reported in those areas are not counted."The primary purpose of the statistics is to mainly give students an idea of the safety environment of the campus itself, not necessarily of the entire community surrounding it," Fried said.The statistics are more reliable now than during the first few years they were collected. In the past, universities were not presenting the data in the form the education department wanted, and they were unable to collect all of the data wanted, according to an article, "Inconsistencies Mar Web Site on Campus Crime," from the Chronicle of Higher Education in 2000.The reliability of the numbers increased with the 2003-04 numbers, Daniel Carter, vice president of Security on Campus, Inc., said. Security on Campus, Inc. is a non-profit organization founded by Jeanne Clery's parents and is dedicated to preventing crimes on university and college campuses.The Clery Handbook and training programs for universities have been introduced by Security on Campus, Inc. to help make the data even more accurate, Carter said. Burton said considerable work has been done to clarify requirements, making the statistics more reliable.Carter said one issue that still exists is presenting the data effectively to students.Sexual abuse crimes are still difficult to report accurately, Carter said. Victims often don't want to report cases, making the statistics under-reported, but schools are trying to make efforts to improve the reporting, Carter said.No hate crimes are reported on the 2005 report, despite the McKinley Avenue incidents from last year. This is because only the most serious crimes, including those causing bodily harm, are listed in the report, he said. Yelling racial slurs would not be taken into account.Burton said this is a result of the report being nation-wide. There could be reporting errors if the law required more specific and extensive data."One of the problems is how specific do you get and where do you put instances like that (the McKinley incidents)," he said.2005 reports for all universities are not available online yet, because universities have until Oct. 15 to get their statistics to the education department, Carter said.
Extra Info:On campus drug law violations and illegal weapons possessions handled internally were two categories that rose the most in 2005 according to Ball State University's Campus Crime Statistics report. Drug law violations increased 160 percent from five to 13, and illegal weapons possessions rose 125 percent from four to nine. The biggest declines were in forcible sex offenses on campus, an 80 percent decrease from five to one, an eight case decrease, from eight to zero, in liquor law violations on public property and a 29 percent decrease in the number of arrests for drug law violations on campus, from 24 to 17.The most significant increases percentage wise were in the on campus judicial referral category for A judicial referral is a matter that is handled internally by the university, like a student code violation.
To see the full report, go to the Student Rights and Community Standards Web site.
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