State bill may open crime logs

Campus police departments across the state may soon be forced to open their books. State Senator Richard Tilghman (R-Montgomery County) is sponsoring a bill that will require police departments at colleges and universities to release daily police logs to the public. The bill was unanimously passed by the state Senate and now awaits Governor Robert Casey's signature to become law. Tilghman said he expects Casey to enact the bill when it reaches his desk later this week. "I'm sure he'll sign it," Tilghman said last week. "There's no great opposition to it." University Police Commissioner John Kuprevich said University Police logs are already available to the students. "I think we meet the standards of the legislation," Kuprevich said. "We've been doing it for the last year." Kuprevich said the University Police blotter reports the type of crime, where and when it occurred, and if arrests were made. If a person is arrested, the name and address of the suspect are entered into the journal after the individual is arraigned, he added. The commissioner added that no information about the victim is included in the reports available to the public. Tilghman said the law was supported by Constance and Howard Clery, the founders of Security On Campus. Security on Campus is an organization that pushes for campus crime disclosure and serves as a national clearinghouse for campus safety information. Security On Campus was founded after the Clerys' daughter Jeanne Clery was brutally raped and stabbed to death in 1986 when she was a student at Lehigh University. Tilghman said although most schools currently comply with the regulations, some colleges still do not release crime information. The senator cited an incident at Philadelphia Community College where the master key for all student lockers was stolen. The administration attempted to withhold the information from the students, he said. Kuprevich said the law is an important step in keeping the University educated about crime. "I see [the law] being primarily positive," Kuprevich said. "It is another example of the community asking, 'What is going on?' We see so much more violence being reported every day." Kuprevich said he does not know if students are currently inspecting the log book. He added that students probably will not look at the journal if the bill is signed into law because the information is already published in Almanac and The Daily Pennsylvanian.