Long-time EMUTalk.org commentator “Alum” sent me some crime statistic data a while ago, and I am just now procrastinating long enough from the work I should be doing during finals week finding the time to make this available here. It’s interesting stuff.
Here’s a chart that breaks down the data, comparing EMU to other state universities in Michigan:
Here is the “fine print” Alum provided with this chart:
Burglary is the unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or a theft.
Illegal Weapons Possession is defined as the violation of laws or ordinances prohibiting the manufacture, sale, purchase, transportation, possession, concealment, or use of firearms, cutting instruments, explosives, incendiary devices or other deadly weapons. This classification encompasses weapons offenses that are regulatory in nature.
Robbery is the taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of force or violence and/or by putting the victim in fear.
Larceny is the illegal taking and carrying away of personal property belonging to another with the purpose of depriving the owner of its possession. Note that several of EMU burglaries were classified as larceny prior to the Dickenson Murder.
Reliability of the above data: 99% of the Criminal Offenses for 2007 is taken from the U.S. Dept. Education Web site. The arrest data is from University Web sites.
In looking at all of the data sets there are multiple sites, multiple tables, and subsets of data that become very confusing. Other than the Cleary Reports, which are sometimes difficult to find (Wayne State’s is either not there, or it’s buried somewhere), crime data and how it’s presented does not appear to be uniform. I have the same for minority/racial data, which also seems to lag behind one to two years. The best source of racial/minority data is the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). Please be aware that there are many crimes that are classified as being reported to other authorities on campus, rather than the police. I have not researched every U. in regard to this, however, U of M’s Student Affairs Office handles sexual harassment issues that could also be considered sexual criminal conduct.
Besides the obvious argument of this data– that is, crime at EMU is for the most part lower or comparable to other institutions– I’d like to make two other observations:
- This all seems pretty reliable to me, but I am presenting this as data that hasn’t been collected and/or verified by me personally. Take with some grain of salt.
- The biggest crime problem on campus is clearly burglary. This brings up two other issues that we’ve talked a great deal about in the recent past on EMUTalk.org. First, there is the infamous missing/lost keys issue which clearly contributes to this high number. Second, there is also clearly a problem with people forgetting to lock their doors to offices, dorm rooms, and (I guess this counts for this) cars. Now, I don’t know the percentages here, but I do know that an unlocked door makes for a pretty easy petty theft. So lock ‘em up, people!
Ha, finally some proof that MSU is the biggest party school in the state – look at that huge figure for liquor law violations!
As for UM, what constitutes campus there, since there is a nice mix of city and campus and not a clear definition between the two at all points?
State property (U of M) is reported separately from private property. Same as saying that the Cross Street area, and places like Theo’s is not part of campus.
As a recent graduate who lived very near to campus, it wasn’t just the “On Campus” crimes that bothered me. There were two armed robberies, a shooting, and a mugging in my neighborhood (Jarvis St. area) in my last year. There was also a large increase in reported crimes against EMU students walking to and from work, classes, and parties.
I’m not saying that EMU is responsible for these things, I’m saying that for students and parents a low “on campus” crime is fine and dandy, but is sort of irrelevant when people are being robbed or shot a block or two from campus.
I hear what you are saying, Jenny. But two thoughts. First, many/most college towns have a lot of the kind of petty crime in them, especially near the campus.
A closely related second: I think that if you checked the crime stats of a town like Ann Arbor or Detroit, you might be surprised to see that these places are pretty comparable to Ypsi. I know that Ypsilanti has this “dangerous” rep, but it is about the same as all these other towns. For better or worse.
Thanks for the info. In criminology we report and read the ‘data’ with skepticism, so too should everyone else. It would be helpful to report these raw data in conjunction with the population numbers. If anyone is interested there is an interesting course being offered at EMU, Intro to Crime and Justice. A gen ed course designed for the lay person to understand more about these issues. One of our assignments is to compare crime in Ann Arbor and in Ypsi. Not bashing Ann Arbor–but it does put some perspective on it.
Jenny: I’ve lived in Ann Arbor for 30 years and crime happens in our neighborhoods: muggings, rape, murder, break-ins, etc. I do recommend walking alone at night on or near the U of M campus, especially the diag. or areas around State St. and the Nichols Arcade, especially at 2:AM. If parents are lulled into thinking that A2 is the island of safety that the City and University would have you think, they have another thing coming.
dcritcrim,
I did a study about two years ago of crime reports in the Ann Arbor News. The assumption was A2News writes more about crime in Ypsi than in A2.
We chose a month which would likely have a high number of students living in the two cities.
We found that in the month of October that there were four (4) times as many stories about crime in Ann Arbor than Ypsilanti.
Makes sense, there is approximately 4 times as many residents.
So the A2 News aparently wasn’t biased to report more Ypsi crime despite protestations from Ypsi residents.
What did you reporting find?
Cheers!
– Steve