Oct. 19, 2016

Page 1

The Student Newspaper of Saint Joseph’s University

Volume XCV | Est. 1929 | www.sjuhawknews.com

Oct. 19, 2016

Decrease in campus crime 2016 Security and Fire Safety report released ANA FAGUY ’19

SAM HENRY ’19

News Editor

Assistant News Editor

The 2016 Saint Joseph’s University Security and Fire Safety Report revealed a few trends in on-campus crimes compared to the previous year. Rape offenses decreased by 78 percent in 2015, liquor law referrals were down by 28 percent, and burglary offenses decreased by 50 percent. St. Joe’s, along with various universities across the United States, released their campus Clery report on Oct. 1. The Clery Report is a nationally-mandated crime report released every year. The report is a representation of violations and crimes committed on campuses across the country, its most recent statistics from 2015. The Clery Act was passed in 1990 after a Lehigh University student, Jeanne Clery, was murdered in 1986. Before that point, there was nothing that required colleges and universities to report crimes that happened on their campuses. “The Clery Act is a federal law that requires colleges and universities to, number one, disclose sure that would be great campus crime statistics; number two, provide education related to campus safety;

and number three, things revolving around preventing campus crime,” Kiersten White, Ph.D., assistant vice president in the Office of Student Life said. “And so the annual security report is one element of the Clery Act requirements, so it’s not the entire law.” Within the Clery Act, there are four different jurisdictions that universities are required to provide numbers for: On-Campus Student Housing Facilities, On Campus total, Non-Campus Buildings or Property, and Public Property. Non-Campus Buildings are those that the university uses for educational purposes but that are not located on the main campus, and Public Property describes only the areas immediately abuting campus. The Clery Act explains what each jurisdiction is in detail. The report does not include incidents that happen off-campus, including incidents that take place in the private houses on streets surrounding St. Joe’s and incidents that occur in Manayunk. The off-campus statistics became especially important after the home invasion

Graphics by Luke Malanga, ’20.

The graphics pictured depict Campus Crime Statistics from 2014 and 2015 for which there were reported incidents. This does not include VAWA Offenses or offenses and arrests for which there were no incidents.

that occurred on Oct. 5. “One of the requirements of Clery is sending what they call to be timely warnings or emergency notifications,” White said. “There are distinct definitions for when you send a timely warning and when you send an emergency notification. That home invasion does not qualify for either of those situations under Clery.” Even though the Clery Act did not report the home invasion, Director of Public Safety and Security Arthur Grover explained that the policy was still used in the recent home invasion. “We reacted as if it were a Clery crime…the university was not inclined to do so because of the law, but we felt that morally, we had to do that,” Grover said. Though off-campus crimes that do not take place on what the Act defines as Public Property are not included in the Clery report, Mary-Elaine Perry, Ph.D., assistant vice president of Student Development and Title IX Coordinator, believes that the report is still highly valuable. “The report is more than just the numbers, as I said. It talks about all we do to keep students safe and how we educate faculty and staff. The numbers really do give you a sense of the campus, but not as much the neighborhood,” said Perry. Perry explained how after the report is published, the university discusses how they can be more representative of off-campus crime and more transparent to students in the future.

“This year in particular, there was some new legislation, so we had to make sure that we put in everything that is expected of us,” Perry said. “It requires us to constantly be looking at our policies as well to comply with the law and to make sure we are doing everything we can do to make our students safe.” This new legislation includes updates in the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). These changes require the addition of Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, and Stalking as specific reportable categories. It also specifies that universities must include Sexual Assault, Dating Violence, Domestic Violence, and Stalking in their training. Additionally, when there is a report of sexual misconduct, the university must provide the student or employee with a written explanation of their rights and options for services. The university must also provide written notification to complainants of available options for assistance with academic and living situations, transportation options, working situations, and protective measures on campus. In sexual misconduct cases, the complainant and respondent must be notified of the outcome simultaneously and in writing. Taking these recent changes into account, White believes that the Clery Act plays an integral role in college communities. “If there wasn’t the Clery Act, I don’t know if there would be any [college crime] information out there,” White said.

Suspect arrested in Oct. 5 home invasion MOLLY GRAB ’17 Editor in Chief On Wednesday, Oct. 12, a 17-year-old male was arrested in connection with the armed invasion of the home of six Saint Joseph’s University students. The suspect has been charged with robbery and kidnapping. The armed break-in and robbery took place on Oct. 5, when two men entered a home in the 5600 block of Woodbine Avenue through a window. They restrained a resident of the home using duct tape and zip ties and attempted to abduct her from the house. The student escaped before the intruders fled in her car, taking her iPad, iPhone, and purse with them, according to Philly.com. Arthur Grover, director of the Office of Public Safety and Security, said that po-

lice believe the purpose of kidnapping the student would have been to procure more money from her. “It was theorized by the detectives that they would take her to the ATM and impose upon her to withdraw money to facilitate that part of the crime,” Grover said. According to Grover, police were able to connect the suspect in custody to this break-in through another crime. On Oct. 8, the male reportedly robbed the home of another St. Joe’s student, taking a bike among other items. On Oct. 12, the student saw the suspect on his bike and reported it to the police, leading to his arrest. “Ultimately, after confronting him with the reality that the bike was taken and by looking at the [security] video tape... they were able to match up aspects of the footwear that this young man was wearing

with what was on the video tape, and a confession was obtained,” Grover said. According to Grover, the university responded to the incident immediately. “I was part of a team of people from the university who went to the house the morning after to support this student, offer her any counseling, offer her on-campus housing, which we did for all the girls,” Grover said. In light of this incident, Grover said that students who live off-campus should be more aware of their surroundings and take extra security precautions. “We urge our students to work closely with their landlords,” Grover said. “You want to have an alarm system; you want to have security cameras…you want to have an approach to sight lines where overgrown foliage is cut back; you want to make sure

that you have quality locks on your doors and windows and that they are deployed.” Grover also emphasized that students who live off-campus should file their address with the university, as these reported addresses help the Office of Public Safety and Security plan their off-campus patrol routes. The Office of Public Safety and Security is also providing students who live off-campus with additional safety resources. “We have continued to deploy more resources to that area, [such as] additional police officers,” Grover said. “The 19th District, as well, have dedicated more police resources to the areas off-campus where our students live...we intend to keep that going, at the least for the foreseeable future.”


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