Certain criminal offenses committed on the Polytechnic campus have decreased in number over the past three years, according to the annual crime statistics report released by Arizona State University.
The Clery Report, also known as the Annual Security and Fire Safety Report, was created after the establishment of the Clery Act in 1988. Since then, the report has been able to keep the public informed of on-campus crime statistics, fire statistics, security policies, and ways to stay safe while being on campus.
The report for 2020 has examined criminal offenses that have occurred on all ASU campuses since 2017. On the Polytechnic campus, there were 51 criminal offenses reported in 2019, compared to 78 criminal offenses in 2017. The majority of these crimes occurred on-campus.
Among the criminal offenses that have decreased since 2017 are rape and burglary. Rape numbers went down from five in 2017 to only one in 2019, decreasing by 80%. However, fondling offenses increased from zero reported in 2017 to four reports in 2019. Burglary offenses went from a total of eight reported in 2017 to a total of five in 2019, showing a 37.5% decrease.
Violence Against Women Offenses has also decreased since 2017. There was a total of five reported criminal offenses in the VAWA category in 2017, compared to zero reported in 2019.
Being one of the smaller campuses, criminal offenses don't occur as regularly on the Polytechnic campus as they do on campuses such as the main one in Tempe.
Alexus Munguia,19, a sophomore studying veterinary science, said she has never felt afraid throughout the past two years of her living on the Polytechnic campus.
"My friends and I go out and walk around campus late at night and we're never afraid of being attacked or anything like that. The security is always out walking around too or they're sitting in their cars keeping an eye on what's happening around them. I'd have to say on a scale of one to ten of feeling safe, I'd be at a 10," Munguia said.
Munguia said that the party environment of the Tempe campus is vastly different compared to the Polytechnic campus, where things are quiet and relatively relaxed. This, she said, makes her feel safe all the time.
The ASU Polytechnic Police Department has been developing strong community relationships with students and staff, allowing for them to further community education and awareness, according to ASU Public Information Officer Adam Wolfe.
"ASU PD has made a conscious effort to expand public awareness about these types of crimes, and to empower students to report suspicious activity by using call boxes or downloading our LiveSafe App," Wolfe said. "We will continue to raise awareness and educate our community to help improve the safety and well-being of the Polytechnic campus."
While the decreases in rape, burglar, and VAWA statistics can't be directly credited to any specific reason, Wolfe said that public awareness has been something the ASU PD has stressed the importance of in response to these criminal offenses.
