Crime rates for February saw a 26-percent increase from this month last year with year-to-date total crime up 12 percent from 2007.
The main cause is an increase in general theft, which rose from 35 incidents in February 2007 to 55 in 2008, despite the Division of Public Safety's ongoing theft-awareness campaign.
The theft has mostly been theft from buildings, which has increased by more than 100 percent, from 13 in February 2007 to 38 in the same month in 2008.
"We knew about this problem even before we saw the numbers, which is why we launched the campaign," said Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush, who finds the ongoing problem "very upsetting."
Rush explained that while she is "happy people feel safe," this doesn't mean they should stop being mindful of their belongings and warned that some of the ramifications of theft, particularly of laptops, include identity theft and loss of academic work.
There were no robberies this February, while there were four last February. Rush said this might be due to DPS's crime mapping techniques and the increased number of police officers patrolling the street.
Simple assaults were also down. There were 11 simple assaults last February and only two this year. Rush says that assault is down because "civility is up."
The number of burglaries, however, went up, from two to four. Rush attributes this rise to an increase in opportunity, such as unlocked doors.
There were two sex offenses this February, which is up from zero during that month last year. Rush attributes this rise to effective education on campus and "women feeling safe enough to come forward."
Aggravated assault increased last month, although College junior Meredith Jones' alleged assault on a Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania employee was the only incident.
A summary of crime statistics for February:
- Robberies decreased from four to zero.
- General thefts increased from 35 last year to 55 this year.
- Bike thefts doubled from one to two.
- Burglaries doubled from two to four.
- Sex offenses increased from zero to two.
- Aggravated assault increased from zero to one.
- Simple assault decreased from 11 to two.
