Campus crime is on a downturn, with nearly every type of offense at a five-year low.
The 2011 Annual Security and Fire Safety Report, released last week, indicated that recorded on-campus burglaries, sex offenses, and assaults have been steadily trending downward, while more violent crimes, like murder and manslaughter, remained at zero.
In the report, Vice President for Public Safety James McShane attributed the decline to high-visibility patrols, quick response times to emergency calls, and increased vigilance.
“Reader’s Digest” magazine ranked Columbia 21 out of 135 for safest urban schools in 2008, a distinction McShane attributed to “engaging everyone in the business of public safety.”
Incidents related to drugs and alcohol remain the most frequent types of offenses. Last year, 189 people were disciplined for alcohol consumption, a 15 percent drop from 2009. Still, these numbers are far higher than the 61 cases of alcohol discipline in 2006.
It is unclear whether this statistic is indicative of increased drug and alcohol use on campus or only an increase in the number of disciplinary actions taken.
Burglaries on campus are at a five-year minimum, with 26 reported in 2010 and 49 the year before. That trend has been steadily decreasing from 132 reported in 2006.
Of the last five years, 2010 saw the fewest number of on-campus forcible sex offenses reported. Four were recorded last year, down from 14 in 2009.
Only one aggravated assault was reported last year, compared with three the year before and five in 2008.
A blip in the charts came under the heading for on-campus arrests for drugs: 10 arrests were made in 2010, a record that had been spotless since 2008. In December, NYPD officers arrested five students from East Campus and four 114th Street brownstones in a high-profile drug bust called “Operation Ivy League,” contributing to this spike.
The available data stretches back five years, in which time one arson and no murders or manslaughters were reported to have taken place on campus.
The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act requires that universities publish a report annually by Oct. 1 disclosing the previous three years’ campus crime and fire safety statistics.
Every residence hall on the Morningside and Medical campuses was equipped with functional fire alarms, according to the report. There were four fires in residential buildings last year, the most significant being the February 2010 fire that evacuated McBain Hall for about two hours in the middle of the night. During that incident, although no one was hurt, the awning above Deluxe Restaurant ignited and the damage was valued at $10,400.
The safety of a campus was an important factor when selecting schools for Ryann Shane, BC ’15.
“The fact that it’s an actual campus makes me feel safe. There’s not as much hustle and bustle as the rest of New York,” she said. “It has a real community feeling.”
As an architecture major, Nina Caldas, CC ’13, often works late hours in the studio and walks back to her dormitory after dark.
“Whether I’m walking through campus or on Broadway, I always feel secure,” she said.
On Columbia’s other campuses, crime is reportedly minimal, if not nonexistent. Two burglaries were reported at the Medical Center last year—a significant decrease from 37 two years ago and 38 three years ago. Not a single crime was logged in 2010 at either the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, N.Y., or at the Nevis Laboratories in Irvington, N.Y.
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