U. Police report slight crime jump

University Police Commissioner John Kuprevich reported a one percent increase in crime from 1992 to 1993. Kuprevich said yesterday that this relatively small increase in crime is due to the leveling off of the "reporting phenomena." Kuprevich defined the "reporting phenomena" as the difference between actual and reported crime. "When you see that the numbers tend to become steady for a couple of years, you can assume you've leveled off in the reporting phenomena," he added. Last year, the University reported a 14 percent increase in crimes against persons from the year before. Kuprevich said the University's initiative to increase the number of patrol officers and to educate the campus community about the importance of reporting crime began in 1990 as an attempt to become more accessible. "We did a lot of publicity," Kuprevich said. "We made the public more aware about crime prevention, the need to report and what they need to do to protect themselves." University Police used a new six-year trend analysis format in publishing the statistics that separated campus crimes into two categories, part one and part two. According to Kuprevich, certain crimes are defined as part one due to the severity and frequency of occurrence. Part two crimes, on the other hand, are all other lesser offenses reported to a police jurisdiction. Kuprevich said the University's crime statistics are probably higher than those of some other colleges because University Police's jurisdiction includes public property, such as streets and sidewalks, which other schools do not have. Part one crimes, which include robberies, burglaries, thefts and other more serious crimes, amounted to 72 percent of the 1,889 total reported crimes on campus, a decrease of 5 percent from 1992. Part one crimes against persons -- including robberies, shootings and stabbings -- decreased by over 11 percent in 1993 to 71. Of the 1993 crimes against persons, 45 were robberies or attempted robberies, 25 assaults and one rape. Part one crimes against property decreased by four percent, and dropped to the 1991 level. The 1297 property crimes included 146 burglaries, 1,083 thefts, 66 auto thefts and two arsons. Kuprevich said University Police are submitting these statistics to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Report. Although submission of crime statistics to the FBI is not mandatory, the majority of municipalities in Pennsylvania submit their statistics, he added. With a leveling off of the reporting phenomenon, Kuprevich said he believes the difference between actual and reported crime is minimal. "We think we're getting to the point where actual crime and reported crime equal each other," he said.