Michelle Hennessy – News Writer
Southern’s campus sets a standard with regards to safety, according to Cynthia Torres from University Police.
With the 2013 Clery Report being published, including the different crime statistics that have occurred around campus, Torres said the police department doesn’t try to modify numbers in order to look better than their competitors.
“Some institutions see it as an issue for enrollment so that’s the downfall of Clery but we take it at face value, we give all the numbers, take it or leave it, these are our exact numbers – we won’t sugar coat anything,” said Torres. “We’re brave enough to say we actually want reportings to go up, especially for things like sexual assault, so we can get students the assistance they need.”
Though sexual offences have been on the rise, with the Clery Report showing two reports in 2009 compared to five in 2012, Torres highlights how this shouldn’t necessarily be seen as a bad thing.
“We know that it’s happening, so even though it’s not great for the Clery Report we know it’s happening so I would hope more and more people start to come forward and report on these crimes,” said Torres. “So it’s a double-edged sword, people look at the Clery statistics, people who don’t understand, and see reports may have gone up and that’s bad from the general public’s standpoint but from our standpoint we say OK, we know what’s happening, and now we’re able to help people.”
Southern’s crime statistics in the Clery Act show alcohol and drug offences as the biggest issue, with 78 drug abuse violations referred for disciplinary action and 373 liquor law violations referred for disciplinary action last year.
“I think that’s normal [for a college campus to have a higher number of drug and alcohol arrests than anything else], but it’s important to keep in mind that we’re a campus that actually issue the infractions for the possession of alcohol so that makes it a reportable offence under Clery,” said Torres. “So it’s reported as an arrest compared to other colleges — and I won’t name names — they just make the referral which is good for publicity because now they can show lower numbers and so when the general public read the Clery Report they don’t realize what’s really happening.”
Students around SCSU also say they feel safe around campus.
“I feel safe, I think quite a bit is done around campus to help keep it safe,” said biology freshman Alexandria Davies. “I feel pretty safe in New Haven too, I’m from Springfield so it’s not too different, other people might feel differently about it but I feel pretty safe.”
SCSU student, Creea Proctor-Floyd agrees, saying she’s never experienced any problems around the university’s campus.
“I do feel safe as far as being at Southern, I’ve never had a problem or anything like that; they’ve always made me feel safe here,” said Proctor-Floyd. “Not so much in New Haven though, I don’t really venture off campus too much to begin with but as long as I’m here I feel safe.”
Torres said one way they hope to bring crime statistics down is through activities on campus to raise awareness for students.
“When we hear that there is a trend we try to always address it. We might look at Wilkinson Hall, just as an example, we see there is an increase in marijuana or drug offences that have occurred so we address it through a program. That program might be just to have an officer go in and we’ll round up a few people and just have an informal talk.”
Though the Clery report shows the total number of crimes around campus have risen almost 33 percent since 2010, Torres said the police department continues to provide excellent safety for students.
“There is no doubt in my mind – and this is one of the few times I’ll become a bragger about things – that the police department works hard to keep campus safe. I’m so proud of what we do as a department but also globally as a Southern community,” said Torres. “We’re always looking to learn more about the Clery report and how we can get our community to report to us.”
