Campus police release 2002 crime report

By Maurice Ndole

Burglary, auto theft and liquor violations top the list of crimes in the annual police crime report released by the California State University, Fresno Police department.

The report, which shows crime statistics between 2000 and 2002, indicates a steady increase from 84 burglaries in 2001 to 124 in 2002. Last year, 103 cases of burglary were reported on campus, 14 occurred on public property around Fresno State and seven in student housing facilities.

The report indicates that 2001 posted the highest cases of auto theft with 92 reported cases, eight cases higher than 2002 and 45 cases higher than 2000, which stood at 84 and 47 reported cases respectively. There were 43 cases of auto theft on campus last year, 17 on public property bordering the campus and seven at the student housing facilities.

University Police Chief Michael Dunlap said the high numbers of vehicle theft at the university were consistent with the vehicle theft trend in Fresno.

“ The city of Fresno at one time was considered the vehicle theft capital of California,” Dunlap said.

Dunlap said the vehicle theft rate in Fresno State mirrored what was happening in the city. He said there have been considerable amounts of efforts by the police and allied agencies to bring the rate of vehicle theft down.

A total of seven cars have been stolen around Fresno state since August. Three cars were stolen last week. Two of the cars were taken from parking lot D.

Fresno is ranked second nationwide in car theft cases, second only to Phoenix, Arizona. Modesto, Stockton, Sacramento and Oakland are third, fourth, seventh and eighth respectively in the top 10 list of infamy.

There have been no incidences of homicide, manslaughter or hate crimes recorded by the university police in the last three years.

Andy Vulcan, a senior at Fresno State, said the statistics reflected his perception of security at Fresno State.

“ I feel safe on campus. I have never had any fears,” Vulcan said. “I have never seen anything that can make me think there is hate crime on campus.”

Forcible and non-forcible sexual offenses doubled between 2001 and 2002 with four cases recorded in 2000 and 2001 and 10 recorded cases in 2002. Five of the incidences recorded last year occurred on campus, three on public property around Fresno State and two incidences on student housing facilities.

Former Coordinator of The Vagina Monologues, Nikki Batholomew, was skeptical about the figure. She attributed the low number of reported incidences to fear of reporting and stigma.

“ The percentage of people who report and the percentage of people who are victimized will always be different,” Batholomew said. “The stigma is always going to discourage people from reporting.”

Dunlap agreed there was a possibility that some sexual offense cases may not have been reported.

There may well be instances that occur but unless they come to our attention there is no way for us to know,” Dunlap said. “There is a lot of stigma attached even in today’s world in that type of an event. It is very uncomfortable and painful to the victims and some victims don’t report it.”

Aggravated assault went down from 13 in 2001 to 8 in 2002, while robbery went down by almost 90 percent with only one reported case last year compared to five cases in 2001.

Some 28 people were arrested on drug-related charges last year, a single-digit increase from 2000. Five people were arrested for possession of weapons last year, a decrease by two compared to 2001.

There were 77 liquor violation arrests last year, with 62 of the arrests made on campus, seven on student housing facilities and eight on public property around the campus.

A steady decrease in cases of students on disciplinary referral was recorded from 2000 to 2002. Students on disciplinary referral last year for alcohol reasons numbered 25—compared to 58 and 48 students in 2000 and 2001 respectively.

Five people were also put on academic referral for drug violations—two more people higher than 2001, but far less than 2000, which recorded 16 cases.

The report indicated that most crimes occurred on campus within the university property.

The report was released under the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security and Campus Crime Statistics act.

The full report can be found at the police Web site www.csufresno.edu/police.