Buildings and grounds

January 12, 2011

UWPD report: Crime stats, prevention tips — and a presence on Facebook

Better bike locks and safety practices would greatly reduce the sort of crimes currently on the rise on campus — residential burglaries and simple thefts, especially that of bikes, say the UW Police.

“Probably the biggest item in 2009 and 2010 is that theft and burglary have both gone up,” said Elizabeth Franklin, UWPD crime analyst. “There was a steady decline in years previous to that, but 09 and 10 have both gone up and we expect that 2011 will probably show as much of an increase as 09 did.”

She said bike thefts were down at the UW in 2008, but saw a steep increase again in 2009 and — though yearlong numbers are not yet available — probably 2010. Nearly all bike thefts had one thing in common, she said: “Almost all that were stolen had a cable lock, not a U-lock. We went out a couple of years ago and found that most were locked incorrectly, only through the front wheel.”

Cable locks are more easily cut than the solid steel U-lock, she said. U-locks and other safety supplies are available for sale at Hall Health on campus. Franklin offered a reminder that the UWPD offers online registration for both bikes and electronic devices, which can help if an item is stolen.

The number of robberies on — and just off — campus that UWPD has responded to has increased in the last two years as well, Franklin said. These are the sorts of incidents the campus community is notified of through all-campus e-mails from UWPD. Though UWPD officers do patrol off campus, she said these robberies, most of them strongarm robberies, are usually under the jurisdiction of the Seattle Police Department. The UWPD robbery numbers went up from 2007 to 2008 and again in 2009, but Franklin said the number dropped in 2010. “Our violent crime numbers are low, but one instance is too many,” she said.

Franklin said the UWPD works closely with the Seattle Police Department to watch “patterns in robberies in order to identify suspects as well as to deploy officers when and where we expect robberies to occur. We believe our strategic deployment of personnel aided in reducing the number of robberies on campus in 2010. Our robbery arrest rate also helped us — our rate is about twice that of the national average, which hovers around 25 percent.”

Some other crimes are shown as decreasing in frequency. Motor vehicle thefts have gone down steadily over 2007, 2008 and 2009, though there were more car prowls.

You can see all the numbers in the annual Clery Report, which the UWPD, like police forces in all institutions of higher education, is required by federal law to issue annually. The requirement comes from the 1990 Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Police and Crime Statistics Act of 1990, named for a student murder victim at Lehigh University in 1986.

The last Clery Report was issued in October, but as of 2011, Franklin said, UWPD will release the report annually in May.

Thats one set of annual statistics. But Franklin said the UWPDs own annual report “has more details regarding crime patterns and trends.” Both are available for view online, in PDF form, at the UWPD website, as are 60-day crime incident logs.

Franklin said UWPD also now has a presence on Facebook, where they offer safety tips under “notes” and information about upcoming classes and events.

One such upcoming event is the Polar Plunge from noon to 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 29, at Alki Beach, where UWPD joins forces with other agencies to turn a cold dip in Lake Washington into donations for the Special Olympics. So far, Polar Plunges have raised about $34,000 for that good cause.

Franklin encouraged the campus community to take advantage of the Husky NightWalk Service, where uniformed security guards are available 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. and to find crime prevention tips and more with the UWPDs Crime Prevention Resource Guide, online in PDF form.