Alcohol and drug-related crime decreased while burglary and forcible sex offenses increased on Ohio University’s campus in 2007, according to the 2008 Clery Act Compliance Report.
The annual Clery report, mandated by a 1990 federal act and enforced by the U.S. Department of Education, outlines the number of crimes committed on campuses nationwide, said Lt. Rich Russell of Ohio University Police Department.
Universities that do not disclose campus crime and security measures in the report, which looks at offenses from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, can be fined up to $27,500, according to the 1990 act.
“We’re happy with the numbers,” Russell said. “There wasn’t a big change from last year.”
Arrests and disciplinary action referrals for liquor law offenses went down by 10.5 percent and drug-related offenses dropped by 14.3 percent, according to the report.
Russell said the stricter marijuana and alcohol policy, implemented at the beginning of Fall Quarter, might have led to decreased offenses.
However, the report does not include disorderly conduct by intoxication charges, which accounts for many alcohol offenses OU police handles, Russell said.
Alcohol offenses make up 76 percent of the crime listed in the Clery report and can lead to many other offenses, Russell said.
“You’re not going to bend the antennas of every car in a parking lot when you’re sober,” he said. Forcible sex offenses, including rape and fondling, increased by eight offenses between 2006 and 2007, according to the report.
Increased education about sexual assault has helped more students to come forward about sex offenses, but many still go unreported, Russell said.
Two illegal weapon possession offenses were reported in 2007, according to the report.
Many of the campus’s 48 burglary offenses were stolen construction materials, such as scrap metal and tools, from the Adams Hall site, Russell said. That number was up from 45 burglaries in 2006, according to the report.
The report also does not include petty theft, which accounts for the second largest group of calls OUPD handles after alcohol offenses, Russell said.
Because of the omissions, the report is not a foolproof picture of crime at Ohio University, Russell said.
“I hate to use it as a very strong indicator,” Russell said. “It’s a good comparison from year to year.”
Reader Comments
people are just getting smarter about not getting caught. but if it makes the university happy to see lower numbers, I guess everyone wins.
Part of the application process should be a background check on all incoming students as well as a mandatory drug test. With these two actions, the quality of the student body goes up and the risk for the university goes down.
If there was a drug test, a hefty percentage of the student body probably wouldn't be here. That said, drugs don't make people bad or more irresponsible, people are just as bad and irresponsible without 'em.
Certainly you are not proposing that students who do drugs are not high risks to the university than students who don't?
No drugs don't make people bad or irresponsible, the decision-making skill of a person using drugs is bad and irresponsible and not inline with what the university should be about.
Not at all, I'm just saying that I place the blame squarely on the people, not the drugs which are so often blamed for society's ills. We're in agreement--the decision-making skills of people who waste their time ingesting mind-altering or harmful chemicals are rudimentary at best. The smartest people I know don't do any drugs and never drink alcohol to an great excess (if at all). But I still don't think OU would be even half the size it is now if a drug test was enforced (plus, oh noes! you're encroaching on civil liberties that allow anyone to be a dim-wit who fucks up his/her body!!!!).
Smoke weed every day...I'm smarter than all of you combined.
Maybe you really are, but your decision-making skills are still rudimentary. Such a shame.
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