UCPD reports reduced crime

Fewer property crimes and severe violent crimes were reported at
UCLA in 2004 than 2003, according to a draft of the university
police’s annual report released this month, continuing a
declining trend in the offenses since 2001.

According to the report, there were 1,167 Part I, or severe
violent and property crimes, in 2004.

Part I includes crimes such as larceny, homicide, burglary,
rape, robbery and aggravated assault, among others. There were
1,313 reported Part I crimes in 2003, down from 1,493 in 2002, and
1,639 in 2001.

Newly appointed chief of university police Karl Ross said he
thinks the numbers have been consistently low because of the
aggressiveness of patrol operations combined with the success of
community partnerships. Ross also credits part of this year’s
numbers to a handful of arrests of people that may have been
preying on UCLA.

On Nov. 9, 2004, UCPD arrested a man with a sport utility
vehicle packed with CD and DVD players, laptop computers and
cameras. Authorities said the man could have been responsible for a
series of burglaries on campus.

Ross said the mechanisms to keep the crime rate low are in place
but added that UCPD is focusing on building additional community
partnerships and encouraging the campus community to contact
authorities when it sees something that seems suspicious.

Dean of Students Robert Naples said the campus is relatively
safe, but that students should understand crime can still happen if
they don’t stay aware.

“It’s safe, but there’s always the potential
for crime,” he said.

The campus has 70,000 people on it on any given day, Naples
said, adding that students should still take heed because UCLA is
located in an urban area in the second most populated city in the
country.

“(Students) are normally as safe as they make
themselves,” Naples said. If students make good decisions
regarding themselves and their belongings, they reduce their
chances of being victims of crime. Practices such as calling an
escort late at night and locking doors can keep students better
protected, he said.

In order to further combat crime on campus, the university is
exploring the option of purchasing AlcoholEdu, a $30,000 alcohol
awareness and abuse prevention program normally targeted at
first-year and other incoming students, said Assistant Vice
Chancellor Janina Montero.

“The vast majority of unsafe violent behavior among
college students is related to alcohol in one way or
another,” Montero said.

Montero said alcohol abuse is not a widespread problem at UCLA,
but the university wants to stay ahead of the curve.

“The motivation is making sure that, as an institution,
that we’re doing all that we can so that we’re ensuring
a healthy and safe environment for our students,” Montero
said.

Four UC schools and a total of 29 colleges and universities in
California already use AlcoholEdu, said Erika Tower, director of
marketing and communications with Outside the Classroom, the group
that produces AlcoholEdu in Newton, Mass.

Founders of the computer program tout its ability to
individualize the abuse and prevention education each student
receives because the information is based on the sex, weight and
personal alcohol history each student inputs when he or she
begins.

At some schools, such as Ohio University, the program is
mandatory for all incoming freshmen, while at other campuses, it is
just strongly suggested.

Tower said once a school purchases the regular AlcoholEdu
program, they can also use it as a tool for students who have been
sanctioned for illegal alcohol use.

According to the report, alcohol was a factor in four of the
seven reported rapes in 2004.

The final decision on whether to implement AlcoholEdu has not
yet been made, but Montero said the university may soon conduct
tests of the software and could institute it as early as the summer
of 2006.

Tina Oakland, director of the UCLA Center for Women & Men,
also said the incidents of sexual violence tend to be greatest
anytime there is more usage of alcohol and said she thinks the new
program could help.

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