Liquor and drug violations on campus more than doubled between calendar years 2006 and 2007, according to University Police Department statistics released this week.
Liquor law violations rose from 502 in 2006 to 1090 in 2007. Drug law violations also rose, from 69 in 2006 to 159 in 2007. UPD Chief Dolores Stafford said this should not be taken as an indicator of more drinking and drug use on campus, but rather of more citations from officers.
She said the government-mandated system records violations on a per-person basis rather than the per-incident classification used by UPD in their crime log. This makes it appear as though there are more crimes committed when actually it is a higher number of people cited.
“You can’t do a comparison of the numbers from 2006 to 2007 to get an accurate feel of what’s going on on campus,” Stafford said, adding that the number of liquor and drug violations in 2006 was unusually low.
Stafford attributes the rise in the 2007 data to an increase in the size of parties shut down on campus. While the violations doubled between 2006 and 2007, the number of incidents only increased by 105.
“If you have three of four events where all the people are referred to Student Judicial Services, your numbers can spike dramatically,” Stafford said.
She added that very few resulted in arrest with only nine arrests for drug law violations in 2006 and one arrest 2007.
UPD compiled these statistics for the 2007 calendar year and posted them for public viewing on their Web site. Under Federal Law, UPD is required to release a report of the past three years of crime statistics by Oct. 1 of each calendar year using Uniform Crime Reporting, the same system used by the FBI.
Stafford said the most notable aspect of the 2007 statistics is that robberies have decreased overall. She added that all property crimes and crimes against people – which include assault and sex offenses – have decreased by 14 percent over the past two years.
She attributes this to the amount of officers on patrol at all times, as well as “students being more aware and following our advice to keep their things locked up.”
