Thursday, February 11, 1999
Crime in decline
CRIME: The number
of incidents reported to UCPD went down this year, especially in
car theft, where police have stepped up their enforcement
efforts
By Cathy Collins
Daily Bruin Contributor
UCLA students and staff can be less worried about leaving their
cars in campus parking lots, according to newly compiled crime
statistics by university police.
The statistics show significant decreases in robbery and motor
vehicle theft in 1998.
The university police’s focus on car theft in 1998 may be
responsible for the decrease, according to Nancy Greenstein,
director of community service for the department.
"If you look at the fact that we park more cars than the Los
Angeles Airport – that UCLA is called a supermarket for cars
because whatever kind of car you want you could probably find here
– we wanted to make sure that car thefts went down," she said.
The decrease in the number of robberies and car thefts can be
attributed to an increase in the number of community service
officers and police officers patrolling campus parking lots, police
say.
Robberies decreased from 16 to seven occurrences while motor
vehicle theft decreased from 110 to 50 incidents in 1998. Robberies
are defined as taking or attempting to take anything of value from
a person by force or the threat of force.
The total number of violent crimes decreased from 49 to 42 in
1998.
The statistics were compiled as a part of an annual report all
UC police departments must make to the state Department of Justice
and the UC Office of the President.
"Basically, we compile statistical information from reports that
officers write each and every day," said Sandra Whaley, the records
and communications manager for the UCPD.
The UCPD is in charge of the campus and shares responsibility
with the Los Angeles Police Department for areas around the
campus.
The statistics are generally consistent with LAPD figures for
Westwood in 1998, which also showed a drop in robbery and car
theft.
UCPD uses the statistics to identify crime trends and areas of
focus for the upcoming year, although Assistant Chief of Police
Karl Ross said the department takes other factors, such as public
concern, into consideration when evaluating crime.
"All of what we do is not necessarily based on numbers," he
said.
Still, the statistics reveal important information about crime
on campus, according to Greenstein.
"I can see improvement in the areas we’re concentrating on," she
said. "In terms of violent crimes against people, we’re down, which
is really important. And we’ve chosen two areas of concentration
for the upcoming year."
The two areas of concentration for 1999 are bike theft and theft
of other personal belongings, particularly backpacks, parking
permits and lap top computers, as the UCPD saw increases in the
theft of these items in 1998.
"We have extra teams of police out trying to hone in on crimes
like this," Greenstein said.
UCPD will combat theft in 1999 with signs and brochures listing
safety tips and public education presentations, according to
Greenstein.
UCPD gave 109 presentations last year to dorms, fraternities and
sororities in an effort to prevent rape and other crimes.
All four rapes reported last year were acquaintance rapes.
Greenstein noted that the Women’s Resource Center also receives
calls about rapes, but that counselors there cannot contact the
police without the victim’s consent.
"We work together, but I suspect they have more people that come
for counseling," Greenstein said.
Five race-related hate crimes were reported in 1998, as opposed
to none in 1997. No other types of hate crimes were reported last
year.
"This is another area like rape where you know it’s probably
underreported because a lot of people don’t come forward,"
Greenstein said. "I know that the student government has been
talking a lot about hate crime and we actually strongly encourage
people to come forward."
Greenstein said that the increase in reported occurrences of
driving under the influence of alcohol was probably related to
stepped-up police efforts to catch drunk drivers.
"If we have an extra traffic car or two we’ll put it out where
we know that a lot of people are drinking," she said. "A lot of
DUIs might not be on campus but they’re close enough so that a
student or someone crossing the street could be a likely victim,"
she said.
Although UCLA has more crime than other UC schools, such as UC
Santa Cruz, which only has three police officers in its entire
department, Greenstein said that it is hard to compare UCLA’s
safety figures with other schools’ statistics.
"There’s no other campus that’s similar," she said. "We’re very
close to a very large urban area. I think this is a fairly safe
university, but just like any other community you have to be
careful."
Greenstein added that although statistics are significant, it is
important not to get too caught up in numbers.
"You use statistics basically as a bellwether of how you’re
doing and sometimes statistics going up isn’t a bad thing," she
said. "When you have all these other agencies saying stats are down
25 percent it could mean that people are tired of reporting."
"It’s not always bad if statistics are up, because it means the
community is more involved in public safety," she continued.CHARLES
KUO/Daily Bruin
University police saw a decrease in crime in 1998, thanks in
part to stepped-up efforts to curb auto theft.
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