{"id":22002739,"date":"2015-10-15T18:16:32","date_gmt":"2015-10-15T18:16:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/usustatesman.com\/?p=22002739"},"modified":"2015-10-18T21:57:51","modified_gmt":"2015-10-18T21:57:51","slug":"officials-discuss-growing-concern-of-campus-crime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/officials-discuss-growing-concern-of-campus-crime\/","title":{"rendered":"Officials discuss growing concern of campus crime"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Campus officials at Utah State University are reporting a steady increase of crime every year \u2014 especially sexual assault, and particularly at the beginning of the school year.<\/p>\n<p>The average number of crimes committed per month on campus is 22. During the first few months of the school year, the average jumps to 38. Campus Police Chief Steve Mecham said it takes a while for students to learn they need to take precautions.<\/p>\n<div class=\"mceMediaCreditOuterTemp aligncenter\" style=\"width: 570px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/the-red-zone-.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-22002741\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-22002741 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/the-red-zone-.jpg\" alt=\"the red zone +.JPG\" width=\"560\" height=\"345\" data-uniq-id=\"b5442\" srcset=\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/the-red-zone-.jpg 560w, https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/the-red-zone--300x185.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 560px) 100vw, 560px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>\u201cThe university is generally a safe community, but there&#8217;s still crime that happens,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I think that maybe the students don&#8217;t stop to think about that, and so they&#8217;re a little bit careless about where they lay their property, or they leave their apartments open.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to the university\u2019s Annual Campus Security and Fire Safety Report, students are at highest risk of sexual assault from early August through Thanksgiving break. This period is called the Red Zone.<\/p>\n<p>Sexual Assault and Anti-Violence Information, or SAAVI, coordinator Jenny Erazo has been with the university for three years. At the beginning of the school year, Erazo hires five interns to help sexual assault victims.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince I\u2019ve been here, each year the number of students that have come in has increased over the first of the semester,\u201d she said. \u201cI was talking to a county attorney, and she was noting an increase in cases.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Victims have several avenues for reporting sexual assaults on campus, including through SAAVI, the Department of Student Services or the Counseling Center.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know that there are more that occur that are not reported,\u201d Mecham said. \u201cThey don&#8217;t have to report it to the police. Our concern is that victims of sexual assault get the help that they need \u2014 help them get through it.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"mceMediaCreditOuterTemp aligncenter\" style=\"width: 463px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/sexual-assaults.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-22002742\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-22002742 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/sexual-assaults.jpg\" alt=\"sexual assaults.JPG\" width=\"453\" height=\"284\" data-uniq-id=\"04fdc\" srcset=\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/sexual-assaults.jpg 453w, https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/sexual-assaults-300x188.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 453px) 100vw, 453px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>Sexual assaults account for less than one percent of crimes reported to the campus police. Only three incidents were reported to the USU Campus Police last school year. In two instances, the victims \u201crefused to cooperate.\u201d In the third, the case was cleared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat means that we investigated it, we know he did it, we know it happened \u2014 but we&#8217;re not going to prosecute,\u201d Mecham said.<\/p>\n<p>Although the term \u201cRed Zone\u201d only embodies sexual assaults, all campus crimes spike at the beginning of the school year, particularly liquor law violations and theft. Combined, they account for 44 percent of campus crime throughout the year.. Criminal mischief and ordinance violations follow at 9 percent each. Controlled substance violations are next at 6 percent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe take very low tolerance to alcohol violations, and so if we have an alcohol violation, it almost always ends up in an arrest or a citation,\u201d Mecham said. \u201cAnd so that gets the knowledge out there that, &#8216;Hey, if I get caught, it&#8217;s gonna cost me a lot of money.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Representatives for campus police meet with resident assistants, housing directors and students enrolled in the Connections course to talk about the beginning-of-the-year potential of becoming the victim of a crime. Mecham added that he strives to have more officers on duty during the first few weeks of school.<\/p>\n<p>Executive director for Housing and Residence Life Steven Jenson said he and his staff want students to be aware of potential dangers. Additionally, he has taken measures to make on-campus housing more secure.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRecently \u2014 a year ago \u2014 we started locking all the external doors 24\/7 so that only people that are supposed to be in the buildings can access it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Jenson sits on the Behavior Intervention Team, or BIT. Organized by student services, BIT is a team of professionals designed to assess, refer and interview students of concern. The Residence Hall Association takes safety very seriously, Jenson said.<\/p>\n<p>Mecham, Jenson and Erazo agreed they want students to be aware of the dangers on campus, and the first few months of the school year are a time to be cautious and educated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe get a bunch of students who are away from home for the first time, and so they&#8217;re spreading their wings \u2014 sowing their wild oats, so to speak,\u201d Mecham said.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 <i>brennakelly818@gmail.com<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Campus officials at Utah State University are reporting a steady increase of crime every year \u2014 especially sexual assault, and&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,26,20,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22002739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all","category-crime","category-features","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Officials discuss growing concern of campus crime - The Utah Statesman<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Officials discuss growing concern of campus crime\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/officials-discuss-growing-concern-of-campus-crime\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Officials discuss growing concern of campus crime - The Utah Statesman\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Officials discuss growing concern of campus crime\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/officials-discuss-growing-concern-of-campus-crime\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Utah Statesman\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UtahStatesman\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-10-15T18:16:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-10-18T21:57:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/the-red-zone-.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brenna Kelly\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@UtahStatesman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UtahStatesman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brenna Kelly\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/officials-discuss-growing-concern-of-campus-crime\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/officials-discuss-growing-concern-of-campus-crime\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Brenna Kelly\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f4ec1434f7cb144d9e40fd5abb1995c7\"},\"headline\":\"Officials discuss growing concern of campus crime\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-15T18:16:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-10-18T21:57:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/officials-discuss-growing-concern-of-campus-crime\/\"},\"wordCount\":679,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/officials-discuss-growing-concern-of-campus-crime\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/the-red-zone-.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"All\",\"Campus Crime\",\"Lifestyles\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/officials-discuss-growing-concern-of-campus-crime\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/officials-discuss-growing-concern-of-campus-crime\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/officials-discuss-growing-concern-of-campus-crime\/\",\"name\":\"Officials discuss growing concern of campus crime - The Utah Statesman\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/officials-discuss-growing-concern-of-campus-crime\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/officials-discuss-growing-concern-of-campus-crime\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/the-red-zone-.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-15T18:16:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-10-18T21:57:51+00:00\",\"description\":\"Officials discuss growing concern of campus crime\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/officials-discuss-growing-concern-of-campus-crime\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/officials-discuss-growing-concern-of-campus-crime\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/officials-discuss-growing-concern-of-campus-crime\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/the-red-zone-.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/the-red-zone-.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/officials-discuss-growing-concern-of-campus-crime\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Officials discuss growing concern of campus crime\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/\",\"name\":\"The Utah Statesman\",\"description\":\"USU&#039;s Student Newspaper\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Utah Statesman\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/utahstatesmanlogooriginal.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/utahstatesmanlogooriginal.png\",\"width\":1289,\"height\":1065,\"caption\":\"The Utah Statesman\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UtahStatesman\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/UtahStatesman\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/utahstatesman\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/the-utah-statesman\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/utahstatesman\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f4ec1434f7cb144d9e40fd5abb1995c7\",\"name\":\"Brenna Kelly\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ea712f3e3674b4cbd2b1656ab8ce80fb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ea712f3e3674b4cbd2b1656ab8ce80fb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Brenna Kelly\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/author\/brenna-kelly\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Officials discuss growing concern of campus crime - The Utah Statesman","description":"Officials discuss growing concern of campus crime","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/officials-discuss-growing-concern-of-campus-crime\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Officials discuss growing concern of campus crime - The Utah Statesman","og_description":"Officials discuss growing concern of campus crime","og_url":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/officials-discuss-growing-concern-of-campus-crime\/","og_site_name":"The Utah Statesman","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UtahStatesman","article_published_time":"2015-10-15T18:16:32+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-10-18T21:57:51+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/the-red-zone-.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Brenna Kelly","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@UtahStatesman","twitter_site":"@UtahStatesman","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Brenna Kelly","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/officials-discuss-growing-concern-of-campus-crime\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/officials-discuss-growing-concern-of-campus-crime\/"},"author":{"name":"Brenna Kelly","@id":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f4ec1434f7cb144d9e40fd5abb1995c7"},"headline":"Officials discuss growing concern of campus crime","datePublished":"2015-10-15T18:16:32+00:00","dateModified":"2015-10-18T21:57:51+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/officials-discuss-growing-concern-of-campus-crime\/"},"wordCount":679,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/officials-discuss-growing-concern-of-campus-crime\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/the-red-zone-.jpg","articleSection":["All","Campus Crime","Lifestyles","News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/officials-discuss-growing-concern-of-campus-crime\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/officials-discuss-growing-concern-of-campus-crime\/","url":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/officials-discuss-growing-concern-of-campus-crime\/","name":"Officials discuss growing concern of campus crime - The Utah Statesman","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/officials-discuss-growing-concern-of-campus-crime\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/officials-discuss-growing-concern-of-campus-crime\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/the-red-zone-.jpg","datePublished":"2015-10-15T18:16:32+00:00","dateModified":"2015-10-18T21:57:51+00:00","description":"Officials discuss growing concern of campus crime","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/officials-discuss-growing-concern-of-campus-crime\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/officials-discuss-growing-concern-of-campus-crime\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/officials-discuss-growing-concern-of-campus-crime\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/the-red-zone-.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/the-red-zone-.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/officials-discuss-growing-concern-of-campus-crime\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Officials discuss growing concern of campus crime"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/","name":"The Utah Statesman","description":"USU&#039;s Student Newspaper","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/#organization","name":"The Utah Statesman","url":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/utahstatesmanlogooriginal.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/utahstatesmanlogooriginal.png","width":1289,"height":1065,"caption":"The Utah Statesman"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UtahStatesman","https:\/\/x.com\/UtahStatesman","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/utahstatesman\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/the-utah-statesman","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/utahstatesman"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f4ec1434f7cb144d9e40fd5abb1995c7","name":"Brenna Kelly","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ea712f3e3674b4cbd2b1656ab8ce80fb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ea712f3e3674b4cbd2b1656ab8ce80fb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Brenna Kelly"},"url":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/author\/brenna-kelly\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22002739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22002739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22002739\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22002739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22002739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22002739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}