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ASU Releases 2013 Crime Statistics in Campus Security Report, 2013 Results Mixed When Compared to 2011, 2012

By Jesse Wood

Nov. 12, 2014. In October, Appalachian State University released its 2013 Campus Security and Fire Safety Report, which includes a tally of crimes that occurred on the college campus for the year with comparisons to recent years in the past.

According to the report, burglaries and liquor law violations resulting in arrest increased in 2013, while drug violations resulting in arrest declined in 2013.

In 2013, 24 burglaries occurred on campus, which is compared to 17 in 2012 and 11 in 2011. One arson occurred in 2013, which is compared to 2 in 2012 and zero in 2011.

No murders, aggravated assaults or stolen vehicles happened on campus in 2013, according to the report. This correlates to years past three years except for when two vehicles were stolen in 2011.

Officers with the Appalachian State Police arrested 200 people for liquor law violations in 2013. This compares to 168 in 2012 and 175 in 2011. Police arrested 107 individuals for drug violations last year, while 133 and 140 individuals were arrested in 2011 and 2012.

Judicial referrals for liquor law violations declined significantly in 2013 to 309. In 2011 and 2012, the number of referrals was listed as 504 and 417. Drug violation referrals also declined to 46 in 2013, compared to 133 referrals in 2012 and 145 referrals in 2011. ASU had seven referrals for weapons violations in 2013; three in 2012; and 5 in 2011.

ASU Police Chief Gunther Doerr said that 95 percent of the drug violations were for misdemeanor possession of marijuana. Misuse of prescription drugs happened occasionally with very seldom reports of LSD and mushrooms, Doerr said.

The 1990 Clery Act requires that universities publish the report and disclose it to students, staff and faculty by the first of October. The Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 requires that domestic violence, dating violence and stalking to be added to campus security reports. This is why 2011 and 2012 figures are listed as “not applicable” in those three categories. While there were no domestic violence violations in 2013, ASU reported two counts of dating violence and four counts of stalking.

As for forcible sex offenses, ASU lists seven in 2013; eight in 2012; and four in 2011.

This is one area that Doerr said he believes will increase in 2014 because the “university had done a really good job of getting the word out as far as educating and making students aware and encouraging students to report incidents that happen.”

Doerr said that university has eight forcible sex offenses through October, which would be more than all of 2013. (He speculated that drug violations will be down for 2014 based on current figure of 43 drug violations for 2014 as of the end of October. Arrests for alcohol violations are listed at 141 through October and also likely to come in lower than 2013.)

However, Doerr said that definitions under the Clery Act are different than what he files under N.C. General Statutes for the State Bureau of Investigation statistics. Forcible sex offenses, Doerr said, are not all rapes. He mentioned that only or two of the seven forcible sex offenses in 2013 would be classified as rapes – with the rest being “forced fondling or unwanted touching.”

For all of the crimes that are listed in these reports, Doerr stressed that these infractions are not all committed by students. He mentioned, for example, that 50 percent of the DUIs, which aren’t required to be reported under the Clery Act, that occur on campus, such as the popular thoroughfare through town, Rivers Street, are committed by people who aren’t students at ASU.

He also mentioned that weapons, drugs or alcohol violations that happen on campus during ASU football games aren’t necessarily committed by students.

“These states are basically based on geography,” Doerr said.

He also noted that the turnover of students each year make it challenging to breakdown the statistics.

“We really don’t know year to year how things will shake out,” Doerr said.

See report here.

Note that in graphics below, the statistics under “residential facilities” are also included in the “on-campus” listings.

Crime Stats ASU