By Robert Salonga
Daily Bruin Reporter
A task force commissioned by the University of California
reported Friday that though there is much room for improvement,
past underreporting of crime statistics for UC campuses was not
deliberate.
Following its investigation of UC Davis, Irvine and Riverside,
the task force recommended the UC reconcile varying crime
definitions in the FBI, California Penal and Clery Act codes.
The task force also recommended that the UC develop a uniform
format for reporting UC crimes and implement an ongoing training
program and information exchange for all campuses.
Overall, the task force found well-intended efforts in reporting
statistics.
“Clearly no campus’ intent was to mislead parents
and students about the safety of its campuses,” said Michael
Reese, assistant vice president of strategic communications for the
UC Office of the President.
The task force, which includes UCLA’s Chief of Police
Clarence Chapman, was formed in response to articles published
September 2000 by The Sacramento Bee and Los Angeles Times.
The articles alleged the UC system underreported crime
statistics, which violated the Clery Act, formerly known as the
Campus Security Act.
Passed by Congress in 1990, the law was renamed the Clery Act in
memory of Jeanne Clery, a Lehigh University student who was raped
and murdered on her campus in 1986.
Amendments made to the act in 1998 expanded campus
responsibilities for recording crime statistics, the number of
people from whom colleges must collect statistics, and revised
reporting methods and deadlines.
These amendments also increased the scope of crimes included in
the statistics, such as murder, sex offenses and hate crimes.
Nancy Greenstein, director of police community services for
UCPD, said UCLA has been in compliance with the act.
“UCLA made a real attempt to not rely on second and
third-hand information, but went directly to the experts to
understand the steps necessary to be in compliance,” said
Greenstein, who is a trainer for the International Association of
Campus Law Enforcement Administrators, a forum for training school
officials on how to comply with the Clery Act.
The articles by the Times and the Bee prompted a complaint to
the Department of Education, which sent a letter to the UC, asking
for a response to these complaints.
“The task force was charged with looking at these
questions and seeing if there was validity to them,” Reese
said.
Contrary to intentional underreporting, the task force found
instances where campuses were overreporting crimes.
At Irvine, 140 liquor law arrests were listed when 14 were found
in the records. At Riverside, 73 such violations were listed, but
only 65 of them found in records.
Reese attributed the overreporting to the differing crime
definitions between the FBI, statewide and Clery Act codes.
“Because the definitions are so confusing, campuses have
been reporting things that shouldn’t have been
reported,” Reese said.
Among these things are statistics from off-campus sites, such as
fraternity and sorority houses, which some campuses include while
others do not.
UCLA includes off-campus locations in its crime statistics,
according to Greenstein.
“Any property that the university owns or operates is
counted,” she said.
Joseph Mullinix, UC senior vice president for business and
finance who helped form the task force, said in a statement Friday
he hopes the task force’s findings will help all college
campuses.
“Campus crime is not confined to any single campus,”
Mullinix said. “We therefore will make the report available
to other campuses nationally in the hope that it might prove useful
to them.”
The UC system considers itself a national leader in complying
with the Clery Act, Reese said.
“We look at ourselves as leading the way in this
effort,” he said. “The confusion is not limited to UC;
it’s nationwide.”