Two crime reports released earlier
this month reveal differing sets of data
about VCU crime.
According to VCU Police’s 2007
Annual Security Report, larcenies were
the most reported crime in 2006 at the
Monroe Park and MCV campuses.
The FBI’s recently released Uniform
Crime Report, which compares crimes at
Virginia universities, found that property
crimes, however, were the most common
crime in 2006, followed closely behind
larceny.
Although demographic differences
make comparisons of universities dif-
ficult, VCU Police Chief Willie Fuller
said larcenies are the most reported
crime across the board.
“There are different reasons why
the larceny statistics are so high at
universities,” Fuller said. “And most of
it revolves around the fact that people
just don’t pay attention to securing their
property.”
Fuller said university employees
commit many campus larcenies. The
VCU Police report shows no employees
were referred for disciplinary action in
2006, however, which is down from 15
in 2005.
“They’re not people just walking off
the street and getting into buildings,
because you generally can’t get into a lot
of buildings unless you have access,” he
said. “A lot of theft is internal.”
Burglaries are the second most
reported crime at both campuses, according
to the VCU Police report.
Fuller said burglaries increased from
the previous year partly because of
changes in how the burglaries are defined
by the Clery Act, which mandates that
federally funded universities produce
annual security reports detailing crime
numbers.
Ninety-seven burglaries were reported
on the Monroe Park campus, which is
up from nine reported in 2005. The
FBI’s Uniform Crime Report lists only
11 burglaries for the entire school.
“(Clery) doesn’t always use traditional
definitions (for burglary),” Fuller said.
“Some things that would normally be
classified as a larceny have been classified
as a burglary. It causes me and some
of my colleagues some issue because it
gives a really unfair view of burglaries
on our campus.”
Criminal justice professor Jay Albanese
cautions against comparing the
numbers in the reports.
“There is no point in comparing the
two reports because they’re counted in
a different way,” Albanese said. “For a
citizen, comparing these sources doesn’t
get you anywhere.”
In addition to campus and non-campus
categories, block-by-block statistics
are provided with data supplied by the
Richmond Police Department. The
complete listing of crimes reported in
the VCU area can be found online at
the Crime Incident Information Center
at richmondgov.com.
Jessica Lee, Monroe Park Campus
student body president, is concerned
many of the statistics might not reflect
the actual numbers of crime occurring,
especially in terms of sexual assault.
“One thing that did upset me was
that the rape victims were so low – they
just aren’t being reported,” Lee said. “If
(the police) aren’t being called, there’s
nothing they can do.”
Fuller said the security report shows
that despite recent population growth,
VCU police are doing their job well.
“When you look at that population of
students, staff and the amount of people
coming through campus … I feel really
good about these numbers,” Fuller said.
“I would love to be zero on all categories,
but that’s just not very realistic.”
Both Fuller and Lee said Richmond’s
reputation as a high-crime area is hard
to shake.
“I don’t know how dangerous things
are because the numbers are so sketchy,”
Lee said. “There’s always been a perception
that Richmond is dangerous and
it doesn’t matter whether there are 30
burglaries or 11.”
Albanese said people should be more
concerned with the crime risk rather
than crimes reported.
“The only thing you or I care about is
how are we at risk,” he said. “What tells
me something is the population at risk for being the victim of a crime.”
Copies of the security report
are available in all dorms and
the admissions office. The
report can be found online
at http://vcu.edu/police/. The
FBI Uniform Crime Report
can be found at http://fbi.
gov/ucr/cius2006/data/table_
09_va.html.