Annual Campus Crime Figures Exhibit No Major Changes

Aggravated assault numbers decline for campus, medical center

Friday, January 19, 2001

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Annual crime figures reported to the federal government by the Duke Police Department show no major changes occurring on campus and at the medical center from 1997 to 1999, said Maj. Robert Dean of the campus police.

Colleges and universities are required under the Clery Act, also known as the federal Campus Security Act of 1990, to gather and publish year-end crime statistics and distribute them to students and employees, with an explanation of campus security policies. The figures for the prior three years are posted each fall on the U.S. Department of Education web site.

The most substantial change at Duke from 1998 to 1999 was a drop in the number of aggravated assaults on campus and at the medical center, from 18 to 10, Dean said. Aggravated assault usually involves a weapon or otherwise results in severe injury.

"We're confident our patrols and community outreach efforts are having a meaningful impact, but the drop in this type of assault can't be attributed to any one influence," Dean said. "Many variables are associated with crime fluctuations."

In a separate category, burglaries on campus and at the medical center appear to have risen substantially, but the increase actually reflects a change in reporting procedure, said Maj. Sarah Minnis, who is charged with compiling Duke's Clery Act information and preparing the report for the Department of Education.

During the three-year period, the numbers of burglaries were 40, 33 and 92. The figures can be misleading unless one understands that incidents previously grouped together were counted individually in the most recent reporting year, Minnis said. For instance, prior to 1999, a burglary of three dorm rooms clustered together at one end of a residence hall may have been reported as one event. Beginning in 1999, the same event would have been counted as three separate burglaries.

"We installed a new records management system in 1999," Minnis said. "Essentially, this has allowed us to be more precise in our reporting."

Also during the same three-year period, the numbers of forcible sex offenses were 6, 8 and 8, respectively. The offenses include rape.
Motor vehicle thefts were 34, 23 and 29 for the period; and instances of arson were 2, 1 and 1. In addition, there were no cases of murder or manslaughter.

Liquor-law violation arrests at the university were 12, 22 and 11 for the period. In a separate but related listing, the numbers of campus judicial referrals or disciplinary actions taken were 137, 144 and 183.

The numbers of arrests for possession of a weapon were 23, 18 and 12. Minnis said these numbers are somewhat misleading because Duke must include the medical center as "on campus." The majority of the arrests were visitors to the hospital's emergency department. Several years ago, a metal detector was installed at the emergency department, which helps keep the hospital free of weapons and inevitably leads to arrests. Remove the emergency department from the reporting and the numbers for 1997, 1998 and 1999 change to 5, 2 and 4, respectively, she said.

For a complete listing of Duke's crime figures, access the Education Department web site at http://ope.ed.gov/Security/InstIdCrime.asp?UNITID=198419&CRITERIA=C. The same statistics, as well as up-to-date weekly reports, also can be found at the Duke Police Department web site at http://www.duke.edu/web/police/.

Written by Noah Bartolucci.