By Sarah Eddington - email
Louisiana State University and Southern University have the highest college campus crime rates in Louisiana, according to FBI crime statistics for 2009, the latest available.
Crime rates at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, Nicholls State University at Thibodeaux and the University of New Orleans have decreased since 2005.
The crimes per capita for all five universities were compared between the years 2005 and 2009 using the head count reported by each school.
In fact, LSU's crime rates for 2009 were the highest they have been in five years. Property crime has increased by 20 percent, violent crime has tripled and robbery has more than quadrupled.
For 2009, the reported crimes per 1,000 students at Southern was 43, LSU was 40.3, ULM was 23.4, UNO was 15.9 and Nicholls was 10.2. The most frequent offenses at all of the five colleges were property crimes and larceny-thefts.
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Reported Crimes Per 1,000 Students Over 5 Years
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2005
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2006
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2007
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2008
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2009
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LSU
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33
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32
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33.3
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29.2
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40.3
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Southern
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9.3
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42
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44.3
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39.5
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43
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ULM
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30.6
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*N/A
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36.6
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32.8
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23.4
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UNO
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**16.7
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16.5
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16.4
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20.1
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15.9
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Nicholls
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11.7
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14.3
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11.5
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9.8
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10.2
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Data obtained using FBI crime statistics
Based on fall enrollment numbers for each university
*ULM crime statistics were not available for this year
**Based on fall 2004 enrollment numbers due to Hurricane Katrina
Sgt. Blake Tabor, LSUPD spokesman, said the numbers could be misleading.
"We could be the safest campus nine months out of the year, but the numbers wouldn't reflect that," Tabor said, adding that it is important to look at how trends happen across the entire year.
"We may go nine months without having a robbery at all and then, for whatever reason, we're still doing our policing in the identical way we've been doing, and due to situations beyond our control, we may have four, five or six that occur in a month," he said. "Then it looks like we're having a huge spike, but then we solve all six of them."
It's common for one person to be responsible for multiple offenses, Tabor said.
"Over the course of the last couple of years, we've had a few instances where it took us a while to catch a suspect, and he ended up burglarizing numerous vehicles, and then we make the arrest, and we'll go several months, or a good period of time, where we don't have any [crimes] at all," he said.
Southern consistently has had the highest crime rates of all five universities, with the exception of 2005.
Col. Terry Landry, interim police chief at Southern, says campus crime often reflects city crime.
"When universities are situated in major metropolitan areas and you have crime trends in the city, so goes the crime trends on campus. It transcends into the University."
According to FBI statistics for 2009, Baton Rouge had higher per capita crime rates than New Orleans in all of the following categories – violent crime, robbery, aggravated assault, property crime, burglary and larceny-theft.
From 2008 to 2009 alone, Baton Rouge murders rose 12 percent and violent crime increased by 5 percent in the metro area, which could explain why LSU and Southern had significant crime increases in the same year.
Tabor said a number of external factors contribute to LSU's crime rates, including sporting events, student population, campus size and accessibility.
"Maybe in the criminal mind, we're an easy target because we always have a large number of people on campus," he said. "Perhaps they feel they can blend in a little bit better."
Tabor said students should pay more attention to their surroundings.
"There may be students coming from rural areas where they're used to sleeping with their doors unlocked and leaving their cars unlocked," he said. "That's why we try to make such a push toward educating these students. You can't leave your expensive belongings in plain site – people are going to take them."
Southern University's Landry said many students are coming from diverse backgrounds, and students often become too comfortable in their new environment.
"There's a sense of comfort that young people have – leaving their doors unlocked and their valuables in view. They didn't have to worry about some of these things before."
ULM's crimes per capita were similar to LSU's from 2005 to 2007, but have decreased in recent years.
Larry Ellerman, ULM's chief of police, said he attributes the campus's low numbers to the quality of his officers.
"We pay aggressive attention to patrol functions and having a good presence," Ellerman said. "It's important to let the outside community know you're there."
FBI crime statistics for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette were only available for 2006 and 2007, but the reported-per-capita crime rates for both years were relatively low – around 18 per 1,000 students both years.
"Over the last five to ten years, our stats have significantly decreased from years past," said Joey Sturm, ULL's chief of police.
Sturm said the decrease is due in large part to technological advancements like the university installing more than 300 security cameras across campus within the past five years.
Sturm said many criminals are deterred by the university's use of signage warning people that the campus is under constant video surveillance.
Sturm said ULL is currently looking into video surveillance that can monitor areas of campus for certain patterns and can trigger an alert when something is out of the ordinary.
"It will be able to pick up serpentine movement as opposed to linear movement," he said.
UNO has also had relatively low reported crimes per capita, but several inquiries to campus Police Chief Thomas Harrington went unreturned.
Thomas Harrington, UNO police chief, attributes UNO's relatively low reported crimes per capita to the visibilityof the police officers and the campus's high commuter rate.
"We only have two on-campus housing facilities right now. The majority of people that come here commute, which probably has a whole lot do with our crime rates being so low."
Out of the five universities compared, Nicholls State University at Thibodaux has managed to maintain the lowest crime rates over the past five years.
"I pride myself on that," said Craig Jaccuzzo, Nicholls police chief. "We have a community policing type of philosophy."
Jaccuzzo said the University is small enough where officers can match students' names with faces. "We try to have a continuous relationship with the student body."
But Jaccuzzo said the university's effective policing has more to do with management rather than size.
"From my position down, we are all involved in the day-to-day operations of the university," he said. "We investigate things early, and we follow up on every little case to prevent them from escalating. We take all minor crimes and investigate them like felonies."
Jaccuzzo said his police department prefers to utilize the school's judicial system rather than always putting suspects through the court system.
"When you put someone in the court system, it can take nine months to resolve," he said. "If you use the judicial system, it can be done the next day."
The university's police department also employs student officers, Jaccuzzo said, who have the same authority as regular campus police minus the firearms.
"They get to patrol residence halls and academic buildings," he said. "They can detain, identify and provide security. A lot of them are hired afterward to work for us full-time."
