November 23, 2009
College Crime: A matter of big or small?
With several incidents of violent crime happening on college campuses around the state of Virginia and the nation, many students and parents alike are beginning to wonder if this a rising trend.
Recent data released by the FBI shows that crime on Virginia college campuses has risen slightly since 2007. Violent crime, which the FBI classifies as a crime that involves force or threat of force, went up by seven incidents. Property crime, which is classified as the theft of property or money, increased in the state by 30 incidents.
Upon first glance, the data indicates that Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) has the highest amount of both violent and property crimes out of the 21 public universities in the commonwealth.
However, once taking student enrollment at each university in to account, the data indicates that Virginia State University (VSU) has the highest amounts of both violent and property crime in the state. Additionally, VSU has the highest total for crime overall, with 43.4 incidents per 1,000 students. According to the FBI Campus Crime statistics, VCU had a 36% decrease in violent crimes between 2007 and 2008, but property crime increased by 8%.
“[There is] an inaccurate perception is that there is a lot of crime at VCU,” said Capt. Grant Warren of the VCU Police. “In comparison to other schools and the state averages, VCU crime rates are relatively low, especially in terms of crimes against persons.”
According to Dr. Robyn Diehl, assistant professor of Criminal Justice at VCU, there are many factors that influence how much crime happens on a college campus, and it is more intermingled than a college having a large or small student population. However, one of the largest factors in campus crime, Diehl said, is the issue of urban vs. rural rather than a large or small campus.
“Large college campuses seem to be in urban areas, and urban areas tend to have higher crime rates than rural areas,” Diehl said. “Of course, whenever you have a more people in an area, there is more opportunity for positional victims of a crime and perpetrators of a crime.”
Additional factors outside of location play a role in crime on college campuses. Longwood University police Chief Bob Beach said that alcohol abuse plays a large role in crime on his campus.
“Victims in most cases found that the crime they suffered was in some way connected to a situation where they were intoxicated,” Beach said.
“The student was in control of their senses which left them in a condition to not see this incident coming or stop the incident from continuing.”
Dr. Diehl said college students tend to consume large amounts of alcohol and it diminishes their capabilities to take care of themselves which increases their likelihood of becoming victims of crime.
Of the two types of crimes that are recorded on college campuses, the most common is property crimes. Last year, VCU reported 617 incidents of property crime on and around campus.
“In college classrooms if someone steals a projector or a laptop that is part of that classroom, that counts as property crime,” Diehl said. “College campuses have a lot of buildings that stuff happens to.”
Additionally, she said that students carry backpacks full of expensive things that could get stolen as well as live in residents halls, where people roam up and down the halls, as well as in and out of rooms, which causes things to disappear.
“Most crimes like this are preventable,” Warren said. “Larceny most commonly happens because items are left unsecure and unattended.
Both Beach and Warren said that although the increase of crime being reported has gone up, they see it as a positive thing in their community.
They both say that community policing is becoming a trend on both campuses and is the cause of more crime being reported.”
“[Community policing] empowers our community members,” Warren said. “It has helped VCU to be a forward-thinking, progressive and pro-active community. Members are able to anticipate, recognize and appraise crime risks and problems, and then initiate effective action to prevent it.”
Click here to view the crime data
