Public Safety released the annual report of campus security policies and produces of the past three years on Oct. 1, which includes the number of crime reports on and off campus that vary from felonies to misdemeanors. The enrollment at WCU, as of the fall in 2007, is 10,683 undergraduates and 1,452 graduate students. The following statistics are based on reports from 2005 – 2007. For the past three years, WCU has had no murders, manslaughter, non-forcible/sex offenses according to the Clery Act. This act is a federal law requiring secondary educational institutions that have federal student financial aid programs. The crime statistics have to be posted each year. Also according to the Clery Act, there have been several reports of forcible sex offenses, robberies, aggravated assaults, burglaries, motor vehicle theft and arson. The reported crimes that have occurred are categorized by the location. Locations include on campus, residential halls, non-campus and public property. On campus reports includes property and any buildings owned and used by the University. This includes the reports in the residential halls. The residential halls crime reports are included on campus and also counted in the specific occurrences in those particular buildings. Non-campus relates to property or buildings that are owned or used by student organizations. Public property consists of streets, sidewalks, and parking lots, which are accessible from campus.
Most of the crimes have gone down in 2007, although some have increased. There were only three reports of arson in the last three years, the incidents occurred in 2007.
Motor vehicle theft has fluxuaited greatly within the past couple of years. There was one report in 2005, seven in 2006 and one in 2007. Burglary on campus fluctuates throughout the years. In 2005 there were 74 reports, 49 in 2006 and 52 in 2007. Nearly half of the burglary reports occurred in Residential halls and most of the rest where on campus.
Aggravated assault has gone down with three reports in 2007 compared to eight in 2006 and 2005. Reported robbery lowered in 2007 to one occurrence on public property. There was one report of robbery in 2005 on public property and four cases in 2006, with three of the robberies being on campus property. Forcible sex offenses declined from 16 reports in 2005, nine were in residential halls and six happened on public property. In 2006 there were four reports, all four were in residential halls. Then in 2007 there were five reports of sex offenses, four happened in residential halls.
Forcible sex offenses are committed against a persons will and are rapes by force. Other crimes reported include liquor law, drug law and weapon violations. Liquor (state) laws forbid the manufacture, sale, purchase, transportation, possession of, or use of alcoholic beverages.
Arrests of liquor law violators were at the highest point in 2007 due to 474 arrests and 12 people were issued a judicial. In 2005, there were 420 arrests, 135 of which were on public property and 264 judicials. There were 407 arrests in 2006 and 160 judicials.
An increase in drug law violations led to an increase in arrests. In 2005, there were 66 arrests and 37 judicials. In 2006 there were 57 arrests and 23 judicials. There were 99 arrests in 2007 with only two judicials. It roughly averaged that one in every 50 people were arrested. Most of these violations occurred on campus with only 22 taking place on public property. Weapons violations had one arrest in 2005, two in 2006 and none in 2007. There were 10 judicials issued in 2005 and four judicials in 2006.
The report also released the number of fires, intentional and unintentional, and fire drills. In University owned housing, there were three fires in 2005 and two in 2006 and 2007. In 2005 and 2006 there was one fire in buildings on campus.
There were a couple of minor fires, with moderate property damage. Incidental fires, minimal or no property damages, increased to 10 occurrences in 2007. There were three intentional fires started in 2007.
Fire alarms were set off a couple times intentionally. The number of times the fire alarms were set off accidently ranged from 274 times in 2005, 195 times in 2006, and 261 times in 2007. Fire alarms could accidently been set off when cooking, by steam, tobacco smoke, etc.
Fire drills occurred in all other residential buildings between 80 and 100 times during the school year. The report explains on and off campus producers and policies as well. To obtain a copy, go to the campus web site. Ginger Rae Dunbar is a second- year student majoring in English with a minor in journalism. She can be reached at RD655287@wcupa.edu.