Campus Crime Drops After Proactive Effort By Police
By Steve Bauer, The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.
Feb. 6–Campus police issued warnings last fall in the wake of a rash of violent crimes, and it appears that students and staff got the messages.
According to a report on certain crimes last semester in the area on and around the University of Illinois, crime was down from September through December, compared with the same time last year.
Advertisement Interim Police Chief Kris Fitzpatrick and the UI Division of Public Safety sent e-mail messages and posted warnings in mid-October that several people had been robbed, some at gunpoint.
“I would like to believe that the new safety video for freshmen had a positive effect in creating good safety habits,” Fitzpatrick said.
She also sent out mass e-mails to the campus in October advising faculty, students and staff about the robberies and reminding them of safety habits.
“I do not issue those types of messages very often and, hopefully, it served its intended purpose: to give special attention to a problem,” Fitzpatrick said.
She said at the time that criminals were catching people by surprise. The tactics included first asking for a cigarette or the time, then stealing property.
Those crimes were “crimes of opportunity” because the criminals were preying on people who appeared to be easier to rob, Fitzpatrick said.
Robbers don’t want a battle or extended contact, so they target people who are not paying attention to their surroundings or are alone.
“For the criminal, it is much easier to take someone by surprise or who isn’t in a position to defend themselves,” Fitzpatrick said.
Robberies in the “campus district” between University Avenue and Windsor Road and between Race Street and the railroad tracks along Neil Street were down 47 percent. The number of robberies and attempted robberies dropped to 17 between Sept. 1 and Dec. 31, 2006, compared to 32 in the same period a year earlier.
All but two of the 18 robbery victims in those crimes were males, and all but one were between 18 and 29. Twelve victims were UI students, according to the crime data.
The fall report also shows 14 aggravated batteries and assaults in the campus district between September and December. Nine of the 14 incidents occurred off campus in nearby Champaign or Urbana. Twelve victims were male. But UI police do not have comparable data available for the previous year.
Assistant Chief Jeff Christensen said the fall crime data report this year reflects a change in the way UI police are counting aggravated battery and assault cases to be comparable with the way other universities have been doing it.
“Our aggravated battery assaults were much, much higher than others, so we looked at it,” Christensen said. “It came down to the definition of what was considered aggravated assault.”
The aggravated battery/assaults counted by other schools involve only those cases with serious injuries, such as broken bones, or cuts requiring stitches, or those needing some sort medical treatment, according to Christensen. The category of aggravated battery also includes those involving a weapon.
Previously, UI police used state law definitions, which include any battery to a police officer officer or assault on a public street.
Campus police, working in cooperation with Champaign and Urbana officers, made several arrests for robbery and aggravated battery, Christensen said.
But he re-emphasized the role the citizens can play in their own safety.
“It’s not just police; it’s the individuals,” Christensen said. “Hopefully if we work together we can decrease crime.”
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