How safe is USU’s campus? Utah State reporting lower than average crime rates

With Logan being named the safest metropolitan city in America by Morgan Quitno in 2007, USU may be a fairly safe campus, but there are dangers and crimes students should be aware of, said USU Police Operations Lt. Shane Sessions.

“I would say that we are overall relatively safe,” Sessions said. “We don’t see a lot of physical violence on campus. Most of the crimes are crimes of opportunity: stealing a bike, stealing a wallet, stealing a laptop, etc.”

Compared to other universities along the Wasatch Front, Sessions said USU has a relatively low crime rate and is a relatively safe school. Based on 2006 statistics released by the USU Police Department (the 2007 statistics are currently being compiled), USU’s biggest crime problem is theft, with 160 reported instances, including burglary (10), general theft (91), credit card fraud (11) and automobile burglary (8). Sessions said year after year theft tends to be the No. 1 problem at USU, ranging from “something as simple as taking somebody’s wallet all the way up to a laptop.

In 2006 alone, $82,065 worth of goods or property was stolen, with the highest dollar amounts occurring in February, June and September. Of the money stolen, only $13,445 was recovered, highlighting the actual cost of the crime.

Perhaps the biggest area USU has seen an increase in has been bike theft, Sessions said, with 38 occurring in 2006 and even more in 2007, Sessions said.

“The biggest reason bikes are stolen more often than not, is they’re never locked. I’d probably say 99.9 percent of all bikes on this campus that are stolen were never locked,” he said.

While theft may cost money, it may not be the most damaging crime that occurs on campus. Sessions said sexual assault and rape are crimes that can leave scars that afflict a victim the rest of their lives.

“It’s like an open wound that never actually heals,” Sessions said of sexual crimes. “It’ll be a part of their life the rest of their life. If I do a paper cut on my finger, in a matter of a few days it’s healed and gone away. It hurt like the dickens for a day but it’s gone away. With a sexual assault or rape, that experience never goes away. It’s always there.”

In 2006, there were 11 total sex offenses, with the majority being lewdness. Two rapes and one sexual assault occurred. While these numbers may appear low, Sessions said it can be deceiving because many instances of rape or sexual assault are not reported. According to the USU SAAVI Web site, only 9.8 percent of victims in Utah report a sexual crime to law enforcement.

“We’ve always believed that even though our numbers may be low reported-wise, there are probably more victims out there. We know through working through the CAPSA organization and our SAAVI organization that there are some other victims out there. Once a victim goes to see them, they’re not required by law to make them come see us. But we do know they have other victims that come forward.”

Sessions said there are many reasons sexual assault is not reported by women, but, “typically the biggest reasons are, one, they don’t believe that someone will believe them. Number two, they feel a sense of guilt that they themselves should have prevented it or done something to stop it. They also face the third one, that is really kind of the first one, because they’ve lost a sense of trust.”

This is complicated by the fact that 85 to 90 percent of all sexual assaults or rapes are perpetrated by someone the victim knows, which “creates a huge wedge,” Sessions said.

“Where we typically see it is that acquaintance attack, where you’ve been dating a guy, you kind of like him, you’re kissing and hugging and the next thing you know it’s beyond your control, he’s forcing himself on you and he’s put you in a position where you’ve got no resource. There’s no help, you’re locked, isolated in a room, you can’t get the help and you’re stuck,” Sessions said.

SAAVI reports the locations the rapes occur are often familiar to the victim, with 60 percent of completed rapes on campus occurring in the victim’s residence, 31 percent in another residence and 10 percent in a fraternity house. According to the USU Police 2006 report, the majority of sex offenses take place on Friday, with the most common times being between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m., 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. and midnight and 2 a.m.

The time of year women are most at risk, Sessions said, is between the start of the school year until Thanksgiving break, a trend which is common among college campuses nationally. Because of this, USU observes the Red Zone, a time of heightened awareness to sexual crimes, he said. Despite using this time to alert incoming freshman females, the most common victims of rape during this time, of the dangers out there, one in six women nationwide will be raped during this time.

Sessions said one of the reasons rape is so prevalent during this time is because there is “a group of new female students who are somewhat naive to the world,” and take their newfound freedom too far, by staying out late and partying or drinking, which can impair their judgment and make them more susceptible to being a victim of rape.

“That window of 8 to 10 weeks is a dangerous time for them,” Sessions said. “We try to get that information out between us and the SAAVI office and alert females to be in pairs and groups, don’t go dating some guy by yourself. Have group dates, be with other female friends.”

Nationwide, one of the biggest contributors to rape or sexual assault is alcohol or drugs, but USU hasn’t seen the same problems, Sessions said, citing the religious culture of the community.

To combat the effects and dangers of sexual assault and rape, Sessions said CAPSA and SAAVI’s One-In-Four program are good resources. He said in the past most programs target women, but the One-In-Four program teaches men about the damaging effects of rape and sexual assault, and encourages men to have healthy relationships with women.

“Some of the challenges we face is these young, college male individuals who went up through middle school and high school worrying or perpetuating these myths and beliefs that they can do anything to a woman, that it is part of their masculinity to do this, to have a big score, when in fact, it’s not, it’s a violation of the law, it’s not consentual,” Sessions said. “A lot of cases they may think it’s consentual, but unless a woman says yes, it’s not consentual.”

Sessions said the effects of rape or sexual assault have both immediate and long-lasting, far-reaching consequences.

“These people, SAAVI and CAPSA, work hard to help them to become functional because it really causes them to lose the ability to function,” he said. “Some of the victims can’t study, they can’t sleep, they can’t eat and it makes it hard to function as a student. We’ve seen students who were on scholarship, who had very high GPAs, that in a matter of days and weeks, everything’s gone down the drain and they’ve had to withdraw from school. It’s very devestating. It’s probably the most impacting crime in our society and a lot of people in our society don’t want to accept that it occurs. They want to put their head in the sand and believe that it doesn’t exist.”

While the police, CAPSA and SAAVI continue to educate and try to prevent these crimes from occurring, USU has taken other, more tangible methods, to keep the campus safe, including the installation of the blue emergency lights around campus.

Sessions said these lights were the result of concerns of female students who felt uneasy walking down Old Main Hill to 400 North, because of poorly lit walkways and a large number of bushes and trees. In combined discussions between Facilities and the university police, Sessions said the first emergency light was put in the area. Since then, he said more lights have been added and are continuing to be placed in strategic locations whenever additional funding is available. While the original intent of these lights was to provide emergency aid, Sessions said they have also aided in service calls to help students unlock their cars when keys are left inside, report theft or to get help with non-crime related problems.

But, while the proper use of the emergency lights have been beneficial, Sessions said there is a big problem with abuse of the lights. He said the majority of improper use of the lights occur between the B Premium parking lot and the parking terrace, by the Eccles Science Learning Center and by the tennis courts. He said these areas are abused often by students walking between classes who push the button and walk off.

What seems like a harmless prank is both illegal and dangerous, Sessions said.

“What they don’t realize is that’s a 911 call and we’re required by law to respond,” he said. “Because we don’t hear anything, we almost have to make an assumption that the person is passed out and incapacitated or that they were being assaulted and they’ve pushed the button to get emergency help responding, but they’re running away.”

This also makes it difficult when multiple calls come in simultaneously and the police are understaffed, requiring the officers to make a judgment call of which request to respond to first.

“Again, when we don’t hear anyone on the line, we try to make the assumption someone has passed out or had a heart attack, but we know from sad experience most likely no one’s there. It’s frustrating,” he said. “We’ve had several times where we’ve had them activated when there’s another situation occurring and the resources are having to be relocated and moved and they really should have stayed in one area.”

This crime is serious enough that the last person to get caught and charged, the judge fined them $300 and 300 hours of community service.

Other common crimes at USU include vandalism, auto burglaries, telephone offenses like harassing calls, and marijuana use, though Sessions said there isn’t a large problem on campus of the use of meth, cocaine or other illicit substances.

So, how safe is USU? Well, compared to the rest of the state and nation, pretty safe. According to a U.S. Office of Postsecondary Education 2006 comparison report, USU on average has a lower reported crime rate than the other higher education institutions statewide, with the exception of sex offense. And nationwide, USU averages a lower reported crime rate.

-seth.h@aggiemail.usu.edu