As off-campus safety concerns grow, the University is responding with a website to increase students' awareness of crime in their area.
The University has worked with community members to establish a website that displays the amount and types of crime in five neighborhoods surrounding campus, and is working on creating a list of the e-mail addresses of all students living off-campus so it can immediately notify them when a crime occurs.
"The more people have information that can correct myths, the better," said John Burness, senior vice president for public affairs and government relations. "This is definitely to the benefit of students."
According to the website, Trinity Heights seems to have the least crime, while Old West Durham appears to have the most. Susan Kauffman, special assistant to the senior vice president for public affairs, said the site is intended not for students choosing where to live off-campus, but rather for students who already live there. Advertising the website or other similar resources to students who are considering where to move off-campus, however, has not been considered.
"It can be helpful mainly for prevention," she said. "Not so much for students to see, 'Oh, there were 10 attempted break-ins on this street so I don't want to live there,' but just to be aware of what's going on if they decide to be there."
At least one crime, however,--the alleged sexual assault on Cari Goldman, Trinity '01, last February in Erwin Square Apartments--was omitted from the map.
"This map once again proves the University's primary interest is not student safety but image," said Goldman, who in an interview this summer said the University needs to provide safety information to its off-campus students.
The website is a collaboration of Durham residents in Partners Against Crime and University volunteers using Durham police records. Co-chair of PAC II Newman Aguiar, a Trinity Heights resident, started the site about three years ago after two rapes took place in his neighborhood. He said he was frustrated that police reports were not easily accessible to the neighborhood.
"To me, awareness is the most important part because if we know there is a trend of a certain type of crime going on, I will do my best to adapt my behavior to make me and my family safer," he said.
Junior Elise Law, who lives in Campus Oaks, agreed that the service would be helpful.
"It would definitely make me feel more comfortable," she said. "At least I would be prepared."
Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta said plans are still in the works for how to advertise the website to students. He said that within the next year he hopes to have a website for all off-campus students, but logistics, like how often to e-mail students, are still undecided."Historically, if you move off-campus, you were asking for release from Duke's overview," Moneta said. "More recently, the attitude has shifted to wanting more help and involvement."
The University's involvement expanded Aguiar's initial project, which aimed simply to release crime reports by sorting them by neighborhood and displaying the information on color-coded neighborhood maps. About 400 University-affiliated volunteers have helped with the website, Kauffman said.
Kauffman and Newman agreed that, regardless of the neighborhood, off-campus students should meet their neighbors and become involved in the community.
Clarification, Aug. 29, 2002:
The reported attempt did not appear on the website?s maps because the robbery allegedly took place when the suspect forced the victim to drive to an automated teller machine, and therefore Durham police classified the crime as occurring in downtown Durham. The website does not include maps of downtown crime.
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