Crime has dropped across the board at AU, according to the Department of Public Safety's Annual Security report, released Sept. 24.
"Certainly we're thrilled about it," said Colleen Carson, director of Public Safety. "[The drop] has been a trend for us as long as we've been doing the report, and certainly as long as I've been here."
The report states that crimes have dropped both on the main campus and at Tenley, as well as AU's off-campus locations. The most dramatic of these drops occurred in burglary. The 2001 statistics listed 33 occurrences of burglary while the 2002 statistics show only 17.
Dwight Allen, manager of Police Services for Public Safety, attributes this drop to the department's aggressive handling of the rash of video projector thefts on campus.
"There were two separate groups attacking the video projectors and we think we got them," Allen said. "We managed to catch the second group on film and handed that over to MPD and they went after them."
The decrease in burglary also holds true on Tenley campus, and the off-campus offices at Brandywine, 4200 Wisconsin Ave. and the non-campus apartments at Park Bethesda and Glover-Tunlaw. At the offices and apartments, robbery, motor vehicle theft and burglary have all dropped.
Allen said that Public Safety has not increased its presence at Tenley, yet the number of crimes has decreased.
"What we're finding is that the students we are getting in are a lot more conscience about security," Allen said. "They are locking doors. We have also driven off folks who used to target Tenley [campus] as a place to take things."
Carson also attributed the feelings of security to other groups on campus.
"The Campus Life staff are doing a really good job," Carson said. "It really is a community effort just about in every way."
Carson noted that although crime has dropped, "we can not become complacent."
"We need to remain vigilant about our program and our community policing on campus," Carson said.
The drop in crimes is also apparent at Georgetown University, where their Department of Public Safety's Annual Security Report shows a drop in burglaries from seven to one.
Both universities have an increase in disciplinary action for alcohol violations. AU increased from 306 cases in 2001 to 452 in 2002, a 50 percent jump. Georgetown saw an increase of 567 in 2001 to 790 in 2002.
Universities are required to publish a report containing crime statistics and current campus policies each year by the Jeanne Cleary Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act. The act was passed by Congress in 1991, and officially took effect Sept. 1, 1992.
"When the regulation first passed into law, it took a little time to get in the right format and create the report," Carson said. "One of the nicest things we have available to us is the electronic means to send it to everyone. That certainly makes it a lot easier as well"
