Campus goes beyond what is required in reporting crime stats

By Marie Felde, Public Affairs

10 Jan 2001 | For more than 30 years, the campus police department has compiled and publicly reported campus crime statistics. What's changed recently, say police officials, are federally mandated definitions of what to report and details about how to disclose the information.

"We make a good faith and very conscientious effort in our reporting, and we believe it accurately reflects the environment encountered by students and others on campus," said Victoria Harrison, chief of UCPD.

The goal of campus crime reporting, whether is it mandated under the federal Clery Act, or required by the U.S. Department of Education for its new Web site, is to give students a clear picture of safety issues on campuses they are attending or for those to which they are considering.

At Berkeley, said Harrison, "we go above and beyond the law in making crime statistics and safety information available to every student, faculty and staff member."

Every year, UCPD mails to each member of the campus community "Safety Counts," a 60-page booklet providing comprehensive crime statistics, security tips and safety information, such as how to use the night shuttle or the code blue emergency phones.

Crime statistics are given in several ways. They are listed by offenses reported, by geographic location - which includes the immediate campus as well as several city blocks ringing the campus proper - and statistics by comparison with previous years. More detailed and constantly updated statistics are available on the department's Web site. The site also includes crime alerts as they occur.

Some accusations of under-reporting crime at UC campuses has been reported by the news media, but Harrison said she does not believe this has been the case at Berkeley. There is no doubt, however, that reporting requirements have changed several times in recent years and keeping up with the changes is challenging, she said.

For example, recent changes to the federal Clery Act now require campuses to provide a separate category to disclose crimes that occur in university-owned residence halls and to report all crimes that occur on off-site locations. One question this raises, said Harrison, is does this include crimes involving the 70,000 UC Extension students at more than a dozen sites in San Francisco, the East Bay and Silicon Valley? UCPD believes it may and will be adding that information into the crime statistics in the coming year.

"We have been reporting crimes on our campus for more than 30 years, so when the federal Student Right to Know legislation (now called the Clery Act) passed about 10 years ago, it was not a big change for us. What has changed in the past few years are the definitions of what to report," said Harrison.

One area that can cause confusion on campuses is who must report crimes. At Berkeley, data collection is compiled by the police department, but others required to report statistics include the University Health Services, the Office of Student Conduct, the Title IX Compliance Officer, the Gender Equity Resource Center, Housing and Dining, Judicial Affairs office and Intercollegiate Athletics.

Each year UCPD sends forms to each office asking them to report crimes they know of. Because these can be incidents that are never reported by the victims to the police, issues of confidentially can arise.

Paula Flamm, who compiles the data for UHS, said that ensuring patient confidentially is paramount. "For example, if a student doesn't want to tell me where something happens, I won't press it." But by using coded charts and not disclosing identifying details, data can be accurately reported to the police department and anonymity of the individual can be secured, she said.

Copies of Safety Counts are available at the Police Department, 1 Sproul Hall. See www.berkeley.edu/ucpolice for crime statistics and alerts by UCPD. Visit http://ope.ed.gov/security to see the new U.S. Department of Education campus-security site.