Although the number of crimes committed on campus or at the Medical Center remained above 2,000 in 1999, the figure-compared to 1998-is relatively low: According to statistics released by the Duke University Police Department, the number of crime reports dropped 14 percent in 1999, from 2,472 to 2,120.
"Overall we noticed the number of crimes being reported were down on campus," said Maj. Sarah Minnis of DUPD. "All departments [in North Carolina] are reporting a reduction in criminal activity.... We're right in there with the trends."
The decline was most concentrated in incidents of traffic violations and disorderly conduct.
After a 645 percent jump in traffic violations in 1998 that brought the number to 213, the number fell to 152 in 1999.
Minnis said a heavy effort to enforce the law forbidding left turns from Flowers Drive to Erwin Road likely accounted for the jump in 1998; in 1999, she said, she hoped people had learned their lesson.
However, Minnis had no explanation for the drop in disorderly conduct incidents, which fell from 80 in 1998 to 21 in 1999.
Despite the significant declines in those two areas, several others did have increases. DWI violations, for example, jumped from three in 1998 to 17 in 1999.
"It's hard to say [why the number went up]," Minnis said. "We have been doing more enforcement. The officers are more attentive to that." The statistics also show significantly more instances of larcenies and burglaries, but Minnis attributed the rise to a new computer program police used to calculate the numbers.
Although the number of larcenies jumped from 624 to 755 and the figure for burglaries climbed from 30 to 93, Minnis explained that in the past, only the most serious crime on an individual police report was included in the statistics.
Now, however, all crimes are included in the report. "It's a truer representation of the types of crimes because most people don't commit just one," she said.
There were no reports of sexual offenses in 1999 but Minnis said this reflects only the number of police reports, and does not include reports to University officials.
Stephanie Wilenchek, director of Duke's sexual assault support services, said the number of reports to her division had not changed significantly in the last two and a half years.
"Some people don't respond to the police so their statistics will fluctuate," Wilenchek said. "Some years there might be a small increase or a small decrease. It just depends on who's reporting."
Each year, DUPD compiles a report which categorizes crimes into 35 areas. The report is sent to the North Carolina Division of Criminal Information, which in turn sends the information to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
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