Annual Security Report numbers released

Public Safety released C of C’s 2008-2009 Annual Crime Statistics and Fire Safety Report on Sept. 20. Federal law requires the College to release this information to the public.
Burglary and motor vehicle theft have decreased on campus and in residence halls since 2006, according to the report. Motor vehicles are simply cyclical, said Public Safety Chief Paul Verrecchia, while burglaries have more than likely declined due to specific measures that Public Safety has taken.
“It’s a steady decline from 2006 all the way to 2008 as far as burglaries, we’ve been constantly trying to be proactive in preventing crime. Our officers do checks throughout campus,” said Verrecchia.
Public Safety encourages students and staff to keep their doors locked. Periodically, Public Safety will go through offices and dorms to ensure that buildings are secure. Students with access to secure buildings can have Public Safety let them in when specifically needed.
If students leave residences open, Public Safety will tag doors that are unlocked so that students need to go to Public Safety to get back into their rooms.
“That has been a very successful program. It brought awareness to the students,” Verrecchia said. Anyone can come in and burglarize property, especially with 24-hour visitation rights in residence halls, Verrecchia said.
Dean of Students Jeri Cabot, who assisted in filing the crime report, feels that residence hall life has changed, which may be partially the reason why burglaries decreased. Cabot believes that residence halls have become more community-oriented and students are more careful.
 Forcible sex offenses increased from 2007-2008, according to the report. Cabot feels there may be several reasons why, mainly that students are more willing to report sex crimes because of awareness projects.
Verrecchia said that the report must also include offenses that have been reported to Crisis Assistance Response Education, and not to Public Safety.
       Liquor law violations decreased, while drug violations increased on campus and in residence halls, according to the report.
Verrecchia was surprised by the rising numbers.
 ìNormally, our liquor law violation numbers are higher than our drug numbers,î Verrecchia said.
Cabot feels that the majority of the drug numbers come from the finding of paraphanelia marijuana specifically.
       Crimes around downtown have caused the College to form the Clean Slate Committee. According to Associate Dean of Students Evie Nadel, it was created after a student got shot off-campus last year.
       ìThe purpose of the committee was to make recommendations to both President Benson and Mayor Riley before classes began in August. Students were guaranteed that their voices would be heard and most of the recommendations came directly from them,î Nadel said.
       Several recommendations were made, including the Cougar Shuttle, more late night programming like ìKickiní it Old Schoolî with Victor Wilson, and several others. The committee spent time over the summer working to ensure safety measures for the students, Nadel said.
       The College treats safety issues with the utmost importance, Verrecchia said.
 ìI think [campus] is very safe. Our crime stats donít mirror the cityís crime stats,î Verrecchia said. ìI think what that shows is that our officers are doing a very good job of letting criminals know that this is not a place where you want to come to commit a crime.î