Harvard burglary rate drops after change in crime disclosure law

A change in crime disclosure law led Harvard University’s 2009 burglary rate to decrease by 91 percent from the year before, raising questions about accurate campus crime reporting.

Penn, however, did not see a similar dramatic drop in 2009 burglary rates, according to information provided by the Division of Public Safety in its 2010 Annual Security and Fire Safety Report.

According to Harvard Police Department spokesman Steven Catalano, the decrease in Harvard’s burglary rates came after a change in the classification of burglary and larceny, or theft.

In 2005, the Department of Education stipulated in its handbook that if police do not have evidence that suggests a larceny took place, a crime should be classified as burglary. According to Catalano, “if you could not determine who committed the theft, [the crime] defaulted to a trespasser situation and was classified as a burglary,” he said.

With the DOE’s latest amendment to the classification of burglary that went into effect on Oct. 1 this year, police investigators must now determine unlawful entry into a structure, like a building, in order to classify a crime as a burglary.

Despite these changes in classification, Penn’s 2009 burglary rate saw a 32.6-percent decrease from 2008 in the Penn Police patrol zone.

“The decrease has nothing to do with crime classifications,” DPS spokeswoman Stef Cella wrote in an e-mail. She attributed the modest drop in burglary rates to the result of educating the Penn community on “target-harden[ing]” its properties.

Cella explained that the decrease in burglary rate could also be due to DPS’s use of crime data analysis, which allows it to maintain a consistent police presence in high-risk areas.

Executive Director of Security on Campus Jonathan Kassa said the relatively modest decrease in burglary rates may be due to DPS’s use of “a narrow interpretation” of burglary and larceny classifications more consistent with Uniform Crime Reporting code — even before the DOE clarified the application of its definitions.

Cella emphasized that DPS is “kept frequently and constantly updated” on any updates in crime reporting regulations through affiliated law enforcement associations.

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