On paper, it looks like crime shot up dramatically at the University of Utah between 2004 and 2005.
But U. Department of Public Safety Chief Scott Folsom warns statistics can be misleading.
The data show university police responded to 94 burglaries both on and off campus in 2005, compared to just 21 cases in 2004.
Alcohol violation referrals, meaning police action was not immediately taken, increased from 92 reported incidents in 2004 to 290 in 2005. And alcohol-related arrests rose from 56 in 2004 to 93 in 2005.
But Folsom said the crime rate has actually remained fairly consistent. The difference now, he said, is that other departments have become better at reporting crimes to campus police.
Officers are receiving more cooperation from the dormitory areas on campus, from the dean of students and other on-campus agencies.
"We're getting more reports, especially in sex-, drug- and alcohol-related crimes," Folsom said. "I don't think there are huge increases or decreases in the amount of crimes happening."
Folsom acknowledged that a recent rash of burglaries in the dorms and some medical-center offices caused some of the jump in the statistics. Otherwise, he said it was a matter of better bookkeeping on everyone's part. But he noted the system still wasn't perfect.
The number of crimes listed per category was based on the number of reports filed. Sometimes, more than one department filled out a report on an incident. Because of that, some burglaries and alcohol crimes could be duplicates, he said.
"The challenging part is saying what part is attributed to double reporting and what part to actual number of offenses happening," Folsom said.
Alcohol violation statistics also now include arrests during sporting events or tailgating parties, which would cause an increase in the number of incidents reported. The number of alcohol-related arrests, for example, include non-students who were attending a football game and found to be in violation of alcohol policies.
Murder, manslaughter and sex-related offenses remain barely a blip on the new crimes-statistics report, with zero to five incidents each category.
"We're a pretty safe campus, and I'm proud to maintain that safe environment," he said.
E-mail: preavy@desnews.com