(Photo taken by Carter Campbell)
Every year, Capital releases a safety report on the number of crimes reported on the Bexley campus, the surrounding area, and the law campus in downtown Columbus.
However, the most recent safety report only covers crimes from the years 2017-2019.
Tanya Poteet, who is on the university counsel and vice president for Institutional Integrity said, “The statistics in the annual crime report reflect reports made to University offices and Bexley police that fit the definitions of the crimes covered in the report and which occurred on University property or on the public property immediately surrounding it.”
This means that the crimes were not restricted to any one area or even a specific campus in general.
Included in the safety report is multiple pages of statistics with various crimes from 2017-2019.
Poteet said, “The crime statistics mostly come from reports to the University police or to the Title IX office, for sex offenses including rape, fondling, incest, domestic violence, dating violence, or stalking. The crimes listed as occurring on “Public Property” are typically from Bexley Police reports. These are reported incidents and do not reflect arrests.”
Fortunately, murder and manslaughter, incest, robbery, aggravated assault, and arson were never reported to have any cases in the statistic section of the safety report.
Burglary was the most common crime, with a total of 49 cases on campus over the past three years. However, liquor law violations had the most referrals, with 236 total on-campus cases.
Poteet said, “The statistics in the chart summarizing weapons, drug, and liquor law violations, present arrests and referrals to student conduct. The information for these statistics mostly come from University police and the student conduct office.”
Meanwhile, drug law violations had the highest number of arrests with a total of seven on-campus reports.
There is a considerable amount of variables that, in part, determine which crimes get reported, when, and by who. Not to mention whether or not the crime gets pursued further by the victim.
Poteet said, “Police follow up on these reports depend[ing] on a variety of factors such as the amount of information available and whether the victim wants to move forward with formal action.”
