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Crime reduced on campus

Annual Clery Report shows improvement

October 12, 2009
by Sophia Lopez | Staff Writer

Robbery and illegal weapons possession are up. But on the other hand, motor vehicle theft is way down.

Three Los Rios Community College Police officers patrol the campus Quad. Crime statistics recently released by the LRCCPD show a reduction in auto thefts on campusRandy Briggs

The annual Clery Report for the Los Rios Community College District, which discloses crime statistics from the last three years, was released Oct. 1 by the Los Rios Community College Police Department.

This year’s report covers 2006-08. It includes separate data for all LRCCD colleges,
including on-campus, non-campus and public property sections.

The most dramatic difference is in motor vehicle theft, which at City College
was 17 times higher in 2006 than 2008, when only one vehicle was reported stolen.

According to Los Rios Police Department Sgt. Brian Washington, the reason for this drastic change is that the officers are doing more patrols.

“Captain Valerie Cox has really emphasized community-oriented policing around here,” said Washington. “The police officers are more accessible to the students and staff.”

Robbery on the City College campus, however, has steadily risen from zero in 2006 to five in 2008. Washington said this category includes things that aren’t as serious as people might imagine.

“It could be the snatching of a cell phone or something like that,” he said.

Another category that has seen a rise at City College is illegal weapons possession, which saw three reports in both 2006 and 2007, but rose to six in 2008. Washington said that the weapons involved are mostly knives.

City College student Kevin Meng wasn’t surprised by the statistics.

“In every community there’s going to be someone who carries around a weapon or does drugs or something like that,” Meng said.

Forcible sexual offenses went from one each in 2006 and 2007 to three in 2008.

According to Washington, however, those were unfounded claims.

“When we investigate further … we find conflicting stories, lack of evidence, lack of cooperation from the victim,” Washington said.

The Clery Act is a federal law, requiring colleges and universities to disclose crime statistics for occurrences on and around campus.

“Some things are not Clery reportable,” said Washington, explaining that the report doesn’t include everything that happens — only what the government requires. Despite increases shown in some areas of the report, Washington said, in general, crime is down.

The full report can be found at the Los Rios Police Department Web site:

http://crc.losrios.edu/police/clery.html