Numbers from the Annual Security Report, released this month, indicate that from 2008 to 2009 there was an increase in judicial referrals from alleged drug law violations, alleged liquor law violations and forcible sex offenses on main campus, but there was a decrease in campus burglary.
In accordance with the Clery Act, the federal law requiring all colleges receiving federal financial aid to report their crime statistics, the Department of Public Safety released its Annual Security Report in early October. The report details incidents from Jan. 1, 2009 to Dec. 31, 2009.
Drug violations
Judicial referrals from alleged drug law violations on main campus increased from five reports in 2008 to 58 reports in 2009, according to AU’s Annual Security Report.
Rosie McSweeney, director of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution Services thinks there is no specific reason for the increase in alleged drug violations.
“Every year, there’s sort of an ebb and flow of what people decide to do,” she said. “There’s not like one thing where I can say, ‘ah-ha,’ here’s what accounts for this.”
These numbers reflect reports of alleged violations, not necessarily the total misconduct incidents for which individuals have been found responsible.
“Anytime someone is alleged to have violated the drug policy or the alcohol policy, we have to report those numbers to Public Safety [for the Annual Security Report], regardless of the outcome,” McSweeney said.
However, in the 2007-2008 academic year, the standard of proof to find individuals responsible or not responsible for alleged misconduct was lowered.
The previous standard of proof, “clear and convincing,” required a 75 percent likelihood of responsibility. But the new standard, “preponderance of the evidence” needs a 51 percent likelihood, or “more likely than not,” according to McSweeney.
She said this could have contributed to a change in the numbers.
“When a complaint is filed with our office, the complainant does have to believe that there’s enough information for a finding of responsibility,” McSweeney said. “That doesn’t mean there always will be enough information for a finding of responsibility, but even for a complaint to be filed, there has to be enough to go forward.”
Rick Treter, director of Residence Life, said that resident assistants document incident reports and file them with the resident directors, who then decide whether a case needs to be filed with Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution Services.
“Obviously that’s going to cause us to then have a lower standard for which we then would file a case, which would then cause our numbers to go up. Because if I’m reading something and I feel like I needed to reach a legal standard of 75 percent, that’s very difficult when you have drug suspicion — 51 percent’s not,” Treter said. “If your window’s open, there’s a fan blowing out and you’ve got something covered and there is a smell, you’ve got enough to at least file.”
However, Dean of Students Rob Hradsky said the standard of proof should not have any bearing on allegations of misconduct, only outcomes.
“I would hope that would not be the case, because really the role of the hall staff is to report what they see, as opposed to making judgments about potential outcomes,” he said.
Public Safety arrested one individual in 2009 on main campus for a drug law violation, down from two arrests in 2008.
Public Safety usually deals with drug law violations internally if there are minor amounts involved, according to Public Safety Chief Michael McNair.
“There’s no law that says we can’t do the external process, but it’s just more effective for us to do that [internally],” McNair said.
However, Public Safety will usually make an arrest if there is a major amount that looks like it is enough to distribute.
Judicial referrals from alleged liquor law violations increased from 244 reports in 2008 to 340 reports in 2009 on main campus. Another 42 reports occurred in a non-campus building or property — up from zero reports in that category in 2008.
Treter and Hradsky also said they have informally noticed an increase in drug-related incidents so far in this academic year.
Sex offenses
Reports of forcible sex offenses increased from zero in 2008 to three in 2009 on main campus, but this is one of the most underreported crimes on campus, according to McNair.
Three reports of forcible sex offenses were taken in 2009 on main campus, one of these in a residential facility. In 2008, no forcible sex offenses on main campus were reported.
McNair said while sexual assault is one of the most underreported crimes at AU, there is not much Public Safety can do about it.
“I don’t know that there’s much we’re going to be able to do about it, as long as human nature is what it is,” he said.
These statistics reflect the number of reported offenses, not the number of ones that actually occurred.
“Could there be 50 women out there that were assaulted? Sure,” McNair said. “Could there only be the ones that reported it? Yup, but I kind of doubt it.”
Burglary
Burglary was down in 2009, with 31 incidents reported on main campus — 21 of which occurred in a residential facility. In 2008, 43 incidents were reported.
McNair said these numbers are very low in comparison to the campus population.
“You probably have a better chance of getting hit by a car than you do getting burglarized with those kinds of numbers,” he said.
Cooper said the majority of burglaries were not forcible entries. They mostly occurred because doors were left open.
“We don’t see a lot of people kicking in doors or picking locks,” he said.
Lt. Eric Hayes, a Metropolitan Police Department in the Second District, said thefts mostly bring police onto campus but said there has not been much of a problem lately.
The new locks that use electronic chips in AU ID cards should decrease burglary in the residence halls, according to McNair. He said the majority of thefts are because people forgot to lock their doors.
These new electronic locks automatically lock the door as soon as it is closed, so there is no room for human error. These locks are currently used in Roper and Clark Halls, as well as in rooms in the Mary Graydon Center, the Sports Center, the Beeghley building and Hurst Hall, The Eagle previously reported.
“We do have a big jump in lock outs, but I’m willing to deal with that,” he said. “It takes much less time to issue a student a temporary ID card to let themselves in than it does to take a police report on their stuff being stolen. It’s much less trauma to the student.”
Other categories
In 2009, there were six hate crime offenses reported — up from three reports in 2008. However, the Clery Act expanded its categories of hate crime offenses just before reporting year 2009.
The Annual Security Report also includes numbers from other categories, including robbery, aggravated assault and motor vehicle theft.
Number for these and more categories changed by one or two reports. The entire Annual Security Report can be viewed online at the website for the Department of Public Safety.
Adam Cooper, Public Safety’s logistics and compliance coordinator, who compiles the Annual Security Report, said it is important to look past the numbers.
“When the numbers are so small, all you need is a small deviation, and the percentages increase greatly,” he said.
McNair said AU has a low number of offenses and that students here are very responsible.
“[The Clery Act] was put out there to provide the individual student and their parents with some idea of the kind of crime that is going to go on at a school,” McNair said. “I agree with it in concept. I think, though, the natural tendency everybody’s going to have when they look at it is to try to compare numbers.”
AU-related crime is going down from the perspective of MPD, according to Hayes.
“That’s a good thing for everybody concerned,” Hayes said.
Other Public Safety changes
The Annual Security Report also indicated that further security measures were installed across campus last year.
Last year, 20 AlertUs beacons were installed through a federal grant. Most schools received only one or two beacons.
The beacons are yellow boxes that basically act as beepers mounted on the wall, Cooper said. If there is an emergency, Public Safety is able to set off the alarm via a text message.
The alarm will start making a loud noise, with blinking lights and a scrolling message with instructions for people in each building. The messages can be personalized for different buildings, should only one building need to be evacuated in an emergency, Cooper said. These alarms are designed so that people do not automatically run out of a building.
The beacons are connected through Ethernet jacks and an FM radio signal. They will work even if the AU network is not functional, according to McNair.
McNair said that there are three layers of contacting people in an emergency: the personal layer, via RAVE text messages or e-mails; the building layer, using these beacons; and the outdoor layer. Cooper said enhancing the outdoor layer is a goal for next year, to get funding for outdoor loudspeakers.
The report also said 40 new cameras were installed in the library to increase security and help people feel safer.
Over the past 18 months, AU has received about $400,000 in federal grants for security purposes, thanks to Cooper’s work to apply for federal grants, McNair said.
In November 2009, Public Safety implemented a new work schedule, where officers work four days a week for 10 hours a day. The previous schedule used a five-day workweek, with an eight-hour day.
Because two patrol shifts are working during certain hours, presence is doubled during peak hours — 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. — without paying overtime rates.
“Having that overlap makes a big difference,” McNair said.
Rebecca Oriente contributed to this report.
sdazio@theeagleonline.com
