Keeping students safe on college campuses
Jesse Mathew, 32, was arrested Sept. 27 on Bolivar Peninsula, located approximately 50 miles away from UHCL, as a suspect in the abduction of University of Virginia student, 18-year-old Hannah Elizabeth Graham. Graham is still missing.
With Graham’s disappearance in the national spotlight, a critical conversation has developed around the topic of campus security.
Crimes on college campuses range from murder, assault and rape to robbery, arson and burglary.
Each college in America is required to annually report crime statistics to the U.S. Department of Education. There are many websites, including www.ope.ed.gov/security, which allows users to search schools in America and view crime statistics.
“Thefts are generally the most common at all universities,” said Paul Willingham, UHCL chief of police. “Annually, our statistics bear that 40 percent of our crime is theft. Most thefts on campus do occur as crimes of opportunity.”
In 2011, UHCL was ranked in the top 20 safest schools by www.stateuniversity.com. The website currently rates UHCL as 128th in Texas and 516th overall on its safe schools index. Although crime on campus is low, the crime rate in the area has increased. There is a PowerPoint presentation on the UHCL Police Department’s website called “Personal Safety 101” that provides tips on how to stay safe and eliminate the chances of becoming the victim of a crime.
“Our mission is to provide exceptional law enforcement service, effectively respond to critical and emergency situations, while proactively safeguarding the lives and liberties of our community,” Willingham said.
Molly Parrish, curriculum and instruction major, thinks that sticking together and not going anywhere alone could help eliminate crimes on campuses.
“Using the buddy system would benefit students leaving the campus; we would look less like targets if we stick together,” Parrish said.
Willingham urges everyone in the campus community to visit the UHCL Police website, www.uhcl.edu/police, to keep updated on policies, trainings and crimes happening in the community. On this website, the University’s Annual Safety and Security Report can be found. This document includes information that discloses all of UHCL’s safety information.
Other links of interest:
www.ope.ed.gov/security
Good article. I would like to offer some clarification on the change of stateuniversity.com’s ranking of UHCL’s safety. While its ranking shows we have dropped from Top 20 in the nation in safety in 2011 to 516th, the actual crime rate on campus has NOT increased. The change in the ranking was a result of stateuniversity.com’s change in their ranking formula. Prior to 2012, they only considered the crime rate on the actual campus. In 2012, they began averaging the crime rate of the cities in which the universities are located as part of their formula. Since UHCL is in Houston, our ranking now includes Houston’s high crime rate which instantly catapulted us from Top 20 to over 500.
The campus is still a safe haven in the 4th largest city in the United States. I urge our students to learn about their campus environment and all the safety programs in place. Visit the UHCL Police web page at http://www.uhcl.edu/police. In particular read the Annual Security Report which is posted on that page. You can also find this information by going directly to http://www.uhcl.edu/clery.
Sincerely,
Paul S, Willingham
Chief of Police
UHCL Police Department