By Shannon Vicic
The UI Police Department has released a report containing comprehensive
crime statistics for the UI campus and surrounding community.
The department hopes that the report will help educate UI students and others
about criminal activity on and near campus so that they can identify and
modify behaviors that may put them at risk for crime, said Oliver J. Clark,
UI police chief and director of the campus Division of Public Safety.
"Although we're always working to protect students from crime, we hope
that the statistics will give students information they can use to protect
themselves," Clark said.
In recent months, the university has taken steps to improve security by
installing new lighting and emergency phones, adding more police officers,
and working with the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District to extend bus
hours to the campus area. This fall, the campus administration also initiated
a safety program, "Truth or Dare," to educate UI students about
campus-area crime.
According to the new statistics, men walking alone at night were the most
likely victims of crime, and most crimes occurred between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m.
on any given day of the week. The greatest concentration of crimes against
people -- usually in the form of assaults and robberies -- occurred in the
northwest campus area, primarily off university property and centered in
the blocks surrounding Campustown.
Clark recommends that to avoid becoming victims, students walk in groups
at night, use well-lit and busy sidewalks, drink responsibly, and stay alert
to their surroundings. Students should call 911 in an emergency or to report
any suspicious activity. (It's no longer necessary to dial a 9 before dialing
911 from campus telephones.)
The UI Police Department began collecting comprehensive data on criminal
activity in the larger campus area -- the area bordered by railroad tracks
on the west (near Neil Street), Race Street on the east, University Avenue
on the north, and Windsor Avenue on the south -- in September 1995.
The department won't have comparative data until January to indicate a crime
trend in the larger campus area. But department officials have recorded
a general decrease in crimes such as assault, rape and robbery on university-owned
property.
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