Levels of safety, alcohol and drugs are among the many concerns facing parents as they send their kids off to college.
Because of a federal law, students and their parents can find out about the levels of crime on college campuses.
The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act requires colleges and universities throughout the nation to annually disclose information about crime on and around their campuses covering a three-year period, according to the Security On Campus Web site. The act was named in memory of Jeanne Clery, a 19-year-old freshman at Lehigh University who was murdered in her residence hall bedroom in 1986.
At orientation, all incoming UCF students receive a copy of the school’s Annual Report and Safety Guide, which provides numerous safety tips and statistics regarding crime on campus.
While the safety guide provides details about crime on campus and university security policies, it doesn’t include how UCF compares with other major Florida universities when it comes to crime.
Safety guides from other major Florida universities revealed where UCF ranks.
Burglary and robbery are the most common crimes at UCF. From 2006 to 2008, more than 830 burglaries and robberies occurred on the main campus, its satellite campuses, Pegasus Pointe, Pegasus Landing and non-campus property. Florida’s other three major public universities, University of South Florida, University of Florida and Florida State University, reported a combined total of 850 burglaries and robberies during the same time frame.
The 2009 numbers are not expected to be any better, due in part to the recent rash of robberies and burglaries around Full Sail University in Winter Park, almost seven miles from UCF.
Despite the high counts of burglary, UCF stacked up well in almost every other major category when compared to other major universities during the 2006 to 2008 period.
UCF had 146 alcohol related arrests and USF had 152, much less than UF’s 591 and FSU’s 922. Both UF and FSU were among the Top 10 “party schools” in The Princeton Review’s annual rankings of colleges and universities. UCF reported 145 drug arrests, UF 526, USF 186 and FSU 482.
The four universities reported very few cases hate crimes. UCF has recorded only two hate crimes since 2006, one involving vandalism, the other is listed as verbal intimidation, according to the UCF Police Department.
USF and FSU both reported zero hate crimes during the past 3 years. UF recorded 3, all from 2007.
Community relations supervisor for the UCF Police Department, Sgt. Troy Williamson, said campus crime could be reduced if students would follow basic safety rules.
“Try not to set yourself up to be a target,” he said. Sgt. Williamson described victims of the Full Sail robberies as being in the “wrong place at the wrong time.”
Williamson said, “[Those] robberies happened when students were carrying laptops late at night and walking alone.”
He said UCF will be making amendments to its Safety Guide on July 1. New categories to track crime will include intimidation and larceny. The Department hopes to have them in the new Safety Guide before October.
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