Campus crime has decreased over seven percent in the last three years, according to a University Police Department report released this week. But University Police admit the statistics are not entirely accurate, since the geographical area included in the report is defined too narrowly. Police Commissioner John Kuprevich said he hopes to change the way statistics on campus crime are kept so that they provide a better picture of the University's safety problems. The three-year report includes every incident reported to University Police between 1988 and 1990 and indicates that while there have been minor increases in certain types of crime, such as disorderly conduct, incidents of crime overall have been on the decline. Kuprevich said yesterday he was pleased that crime has declined, attributing it to a near doubling in the number of police officers patrolling the University since 1988. "The fact that we have more personnel has allowed for more effective patrols which allow us to make more arrests," Kuprevich said. "The more arrests made, the less crime in the future because the more frequently you take criminals off the street; the more you convince them that if they commit a crime, they will get caught therefore making them less likely to try anything." But, Kuprevich noted, the statistics are not totally indicative of the status of security on campus. The report says there have been no incidents of forcible or attempted rape in the past three years, despite well-known occurences of such crimes. Kuprevich said the report only includes incidents which conform to definitions created by the U.S. Government. Kuprevich explained that the law defines crimes committed on campus as a crime committed in or on University-owned property which is located in the geographic area of the University and is used directly for or in relation to educational purposes, or a crime committed in or on property owned by an institution recognized by the University. But Kuprevich added that he hopes to make available to the University community-wide statistics, which are based on broader definitions of campus crime and which give a clearer picture of security on campus. "I think we owe it to our community to release figures that are truly meaningful to them," Kuprevich said. "Every one of those statistics is per Federal law, but we need to go beyond that for community purposes. Women's Center Elena DiLapi stressed yesterday that people who see the report should take into account the narrow definitions used to define crime, especially with regard to incidents of actual and attempted rape. "People have to realize that if incidents of rape don't fit a fixed definition, it doesn't mean they don't happen," DiLapi said. "Also, many incidents of rape go unreported to the police," DiLapi added. "But that certainly doesn't mean that they didn't happen." DiLapi said she is working with the University Council Safety and Security Committee to develop a centralized system of reporting rape to be in place next fall so statistics will reflect reality. Commissioner Kuprevich also noted that the report does not recognize incidents of acquaintance rape. "The reports do not take acquaintance rape into account at all," Kuprevich said. "And those statistics are something which the public must be made aware of." Students Together Against Acquaintance Rape Coordinator Erica Strohl added that she feels it is wrong for the University to point to such a report as an indication of campus security especially because it does not take into account incidents of acquaintance rape. "They don't put any sort of disclaimer that says that these statistics are calculated using the narrowest of definitions for crime," Strohl said. "I don't think that Penn is doing a service to the community by pretending that we have no rapes here when everyone knows that's not true."
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