Violent Crime Eases

The number of burglaries reported on campus increased by 15 percent in 2003 and the violent crime rate on campus decreased by 30 percent, according to crime statistics released in the Harvard University Police Department’s (HUPD) annual crime report.

There was a 4 percent increase in total crime on campus, attributable mainly to the increase in burglaries to 451 in 2003 from 393 in 2002 and 342 in 2001.

Steven G. Catalano, HUPD spokesperson, said there was one distinct string of incidents which explain part of the increase—a group of individuals stole approximately 26 LCD projectors—but said he cannot pinpoint the reason for the broader trend.

“People are reporting more crime but it’s tough to tell exactly,” Catalano said. “We’re concerned. We want to get the word out: Never leave your property unattended and never leave your doors unlocked.”

In spite of the highly publicized sexual assaults reported in the fall of 2003, forcible sex offenses decreased to 16 in 2003 from 25 in 2002, and 23 in 2001.

The number of reported larceny occurrences was slashed to 174 in 2003 from 234 in 2002 and the number of reported aggravated assaults remained fairly constant at 6 in 2003, slightly up from 4 in 2002 and 5 in 2001.

But James A. Herms of the Student-Alumni Committee on Institutional Security Policy, an independent watchdog group, said HUPD has improved but is still not doing enough.

Herms says HUPD’s replacement of “dedicated, Harvard guards, who know the Harvard buildings, with agency guards not dedicated to Harvard” is a mistake that may explain the continued rise in burglary. “Burglars now see Harvard as a soft target,” Herms said.

The statistics also revealed that the number of liquor law violations has increased substantially, from 62 in 2000, to 96 in 2002 and 134 last year.

Herms blamed the Harvard administration for not marketing properly.

“No question that Harvard has cracked down harder on liquor violations,” Herms said. “But they’ve made no announcement about this harsher crackdown. They are evidently not reducing the rate of drinking. At this current rate, one out of every 12 students has been or will be Ad Boarded for liquor law violations during their tenure at Harvard.”

Catalano said the liquor law statistics were provided by Harvard and that such violations are not handled by HUPD.

Overall, Catalano said the increase in total crime on campus by 4 percent mirrors a national trend and is still down from 2000.

“Realistically, we’re never going to eliminate crime on campus,” he said. “We’d like to see further decreases in violent crime and property crime.”

Herms credited the drop in violent crime and the overall stability of the number of crimes, excluding burglary, to watch-groups like his own.

“Every time we got in the newspaper, there is a noticeable increase of patrol cars. We think that we have helped,” Herms said.

When asked to comment on Herms’ criticism of HUPD and his insistence that they be “slightly embarrassed,” Catalano said, “As we have stated in the past, we will work with any credible member of the community on crime and safety issues. Also as we have stated in the past, we will not respond to Herms’s baseless allegations.”

—Staff writer Robin M. Peguero can be reached at peguero@fas.harvard.edu.