THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, December 4, 1995 TAG: 9512040033
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 147 lines
Crime at Virginia colleges dropped 6 percent last year, recently released FBI statistics show. But local campuses still rank among the most crime-ridden in the state.
Norfolk State University was the only college in the state that listed any campus murders, with two in 1994.
Not all of the schools with high crime rates are in urban settings. The Virginia college with the highest crime rate was the College of William and Mary, in Williamsburg, with 44 felonies reported for every 1,000 students.
Both Norfolk State and William and Mary have experienced dramatic increases in violent crimes since 1993. William and Mary again led the state with five rapes on campus in 1994, up from one the previous year. NSU had 12 assaults, up from five.
Old Dominion University, on the other hand, recorded a 21 percent drop in crime during 1994. But the number of car thefts virtually doubled, to 22, far exceeding the number at any other school.
Colleges are required by federal law to report crimes to better inform students of risks on campus. Yet some campus police chiefs and researchers say the numbers don't offer an accurate portrayal of campus crime and shouldn't be used to judge the relative safety of schools.
``The only thing we can see from the numbers is which school has the best reporting system,'' said Connie Kirkland, a former campus security consultant who is now sexual-assault services coordinator at George Mason University.
``The value of the numbers,'' she said, ``is that now at least we're beginning to alert the public that crime occurs on campus, that we're not insulated from the things that go awry in normal society.''
Police officials at W & M and NSU say their numbers are higher than the rest probably because they are exacting in reporting crimes - for instance, reporting fist fights, which are then listed in the FBI's ``assaults'' category.
``A lot of people might say, `Split 'em up, go to the dean, don't report it,' '' said Ted Price, the operations lieutenant for NSU's police force. ``We take a stronger stance, and the price we pay is: Our numbers go up.''
Colleges report crimes in eight categories - murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft and arson. The first four are considered violent crimes and the last four property crimes.
The law about reporting crimes applies only to public four-year schools, but in Virginia three community colleges and two private universities, including Hampton, also report their numbers. The figures are sent to the Virginia State Police, and the FBI compiles statistics nationwide.
Overall, the total number of crimes on Virginia campuses fell from 4,763 in 1993 to 4,485 last year. The number of violent crimes rose by one. The drop in the total was almost entirely in the category of larcenies - such as the theft of books or bicycles - which account for at least two-thirds of campus crimes.
National totals for campus crimes were not available to compare Virginia colleges with those across the country.
William and Mary also ranked highest in the state last year in the number of violent crimes per 1,000 students - 2.7. Ashley Kern, a sophomore from Virginia Beach, said, ``I just worry about things like that. People tend to talk about it a lot here. I've heard from some girls that someone was raped twice at a fraternity party.''
But many students don't fear for their safety. ``It's relatively safe,'' said junior Julie Piano, from outside Philadelphia. ``You just have to be smart. You don't walk around alone at night.''
Dick McGrew, the college's police chief, offered two factors that might magnify William and Mary's numbers.
First, unlike most colleges, it has fraternity houses on its campus. That's important because universities are required to report only those crimes that occur on their campuses. So if a student is raped or beaten up at a fraternity house, most schools wouldn't have to list that crime - but William and Mary would.
Second, though W & M is a relatively small school, with fewer than 8,000 students, it has one of the largest dorm populations in the state. That, too, drives up the numbers, McGrew said. ``Where we live is where it happens.''
Hernan Vera, a sociology professor at the University of Florida, has studied the crime numbers, and he agreed. ``The number of crimes that occurs in classrooms and the library - it's practically nonexistent,'' Vera said. ``It happens in residential areas and places that students congregate.''
Vera suggests that colleges be compared based on the ratio between the number of crimes and the number of students living on campus. By that measure, W & M would have the seventh highest crime rate among the 17 four-year schools reporting in Virginia. No students live at community colleges.
McGrew stressed that four of the five rapes were acquaintance rapes, which, he argued, are not always reported by other schools.
At Norfolk State, both murders occurred during the spring semester. In January, Gerard Edwards was shot to death by another student in his room in Scott Hall. In April, Zina Lucas was accused of dumping her newborn baby in a plastic garbage bag in a trash bin behind her dorm. She has not yet been tried.
Former student Derrick Washington, who was convicted of acting as a lookout in Edwards' shooting, testified in October that he had warned campus officials, including security officers, about escalating gang violence in the dorm but was ignored. However, Price, the lieutenant, said none of his officers had been approached by students about problems at Scott Hall.
Victor O. Rice, NSU's chief of police, said safeguards have been added to prevent both types of killings:
A security officer now is posted on each dorm floor.
More seminars are being held on conflict resolution and how to handle unexpected pregnancies.
And the force hopes to start a bike patrol next semester to make officers more visible.
``That is our main goal - this will never happen again,'' Rice said.
At Old Dominion, Police Chief William ``Cliff'' Rice said the declining crime rate showed that police warnings were getting through to students. ``I think the young people are getting a little more educated,'' he said, ``and they're taking a little bit more responsibility for their actions. They're traveling in groups together; they're not jogging at 2 or 3 in the morning, or going to the cash machine late at night to buy that beer.''
He said the high rate of car thefts reflected a problem endemic to the city of Norfolk, which reported 1,810 car thefts last year.
Just as some campus officials say the crime numbers shouldn't be overemphasized, others say they should not be ignored either.
James Madison University reported just three violent crimes last year - two assaults and one robbery. But Alan MacNutt, James Madison's director of public safety, said, ``No matter how nice an area it would appear to someone, they should not let their guard down. They should be conscious of their safety at all times. . . . Be aware of your surroundings. Note anything unusual. Keep your rooms locked. And don't go out alone.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic by Virginian-Pilot
Crime Rate
Virginia Schools ranked by reported felonies per 1,000 students
during 1994.
For copy of graphic, see microfilm.
Graphic by Virginian-Pilot
Crime on Virginia Campuses: The Breakdown
[Graphic includes: name of college/university
Enrollment figures
Total felonies for 1993 and 1994
Violent Crimes, 1993 and 1994
Property Crimes, 1993 and 1994
Murders
Rape
Robberies
Aggravated assaults
For complete copy, see microfilm.
KEYWORDS: MURDER CRIME RATES COLLEGE UNIVERSITY CAMPUS VIRGINIA
STATISTICS by CNB