If the latest campus crime reports are to be believed, the University of Utah has five times more drug offenses than UCLA, seven times more than Georgetown and 100 times more than City University of New York.
In fact, among the 831 schools included in the Chronicle of Higher Education's annual crime data survey, the U. ranks 10th in the nation for reported drug arrests in 1994.The number of drug offenses reported by the U. jumped from 46 in 1993 to 102 in 1994, the last year for which statistics are available.
Meanwhile, almost half the schools surveyed - including such large institutions as the University of Southern California, University of Miami, Weber State University and Salt Lake Community College - reported no drug arrests in 1994.
What's wrong with that picture is that it's not only incomplete, it's "terribly misleading," says U. Police Chief Wayne D. Shepherd.
"It makes it look as if crime is running rampant up here when, in fact, what's really happening is we're doing a better job of enforcement than most schools," Shepherd said.
"It's upsetting because if we were doing nothing, if we had no drug unit addressing the problem, we'd look pretty good."
Also, the raw data compares "apples to oranges" in higher education, the chief added. For example, there are three large hospitals on the U. campus, and some drug overdose patients end up in U. police statistics. Moreover, University Hospital generally handles all jail and prison inmates requiring medical care.
While the U. has had an established police force for 31 years, many colleges and universities still rely on part-time security personnel or exclusively on outside police departments.
"Our cases show up because we work them," Shepherd said. At other schools, cases might be reported to local police and never make it into the campus records.
According to Shepherd, the sudden surge in the number of drug cases between 1993 and 1994 had more to do with the disposition of cases rather than an actual increase in crime.
"On drug cases, when you're working undercover, you wait until you get a good bunch of them before you make the arrests. So, the number might be really high one year and really low the next, depending on when you put them all together," Shepherd said.
Another variable is the campus authorities' attitude toward offenses. "We hide nothing up here," Shepherd said. "We report it all; we prosecute them all."
Reflecting that approach, the U. also reported 184 arrests for liquor law violations in 1994, surpassing the vast majority of schools surveyed.
The Chronicle of Higher Education survey shows a 22.9 percent increase in drug violations and a 5.6 percent increase in liquor violations nationwide. The number of murders on college campuses increased from 15 to 19 and forcible sex offenses increased from 892 to 1,001.
In Utah, none of the six schools surveyed reported a murder. Brig-ham Young University reported four forcible sex offenses in 1994, compared to none in 1993. Utah State University reported five forcible sex offenses, one more than the prior year. The U. had three, the same as in 1993.
In other categories, the survey found:
- The U. reported a 50-percent drop in the number of burglaries - from 51 to 25 - compared to a 7.4-percent drop nationally. WSU tallied an even steeper decline, going from 28 in 1993 to 5 in 1994.
- The U. and USU were the only schools in Utah to report weapons law violations, two at the U. and one at USU.
- BYU and SLCC noted drops in car thefts.
The Chronicle of Higher Education survey was compiled from the crime reports the nation's colleges and universities are required by law to prepare for dissemination to students and employees. Included were those schools with more than 5,000 students.
In an article accompanying the survey, the journal conceded that inconsistent interpretations combined with the low numbers reported by some institutions "make some people skeptical about the accuracy and comparability of the statistics."
However, it added that advocates of the reports argue they are still the best indicators of trends on campus.
Shepherd remains skeptical, saying, "The people doing the survey are not trying to lie but those statistics present such a small part of the picture that it becomes deceptive."
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Top 10 in drug arrests
1993 1994
San Jose State 120 139
University of Maryland, College Park 74 132
Arizona State 55 128
University of California, Berkeley 216 117
Michigan State 98 111
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 215 110
University of Connecticut 32 109
University of North Carolina, Greensboro 42 106
University of Arizona 82 104
University of Utah 46 102
Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education