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UW crime statistics’ reporting method questioned
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by N. Zeke Campfield
Sunday, December 9, 2001
UW-Madison has come under fire after officials at other Big Ten schools refuted a report that this campus is one of the region’s safest schools.
Since the year 2000 report was released Nov. 19, it has been found that the reported number of crimes on campus last year is much smaller than the actual number.
UW reported to the U.S. Department of Education that there have been only two forcible sex offenses, four robberies, 14 aggravated assaults and 51 burglaries. The report also found there have been no forcible sex offenses, robberies or aggravated assaults in university housing, and only seven burglaries.
However, according to UW officials, there were 13 forcible sexual assaults reported to the dean of students office last year, and six of those took place in university housing.
The difference, officials said, lies in the reporting process. Many people are confused about what incidents need to be reported to the federal government under the Jeanne Cleary Act, which requires campuses to report all crime reports.
Capt. Dale Burke of the UW Police Department said this confusion is due to a difference in reporting requirements between the federal guidelines and the U.S Justice Department’s Uniform Crime Report, which this campus follows.
Because of this difference, incidents that were reported to the Dean of Students office and not to police were not reported to the federal government.
“What they’re asking for are reported crimes where someone was actually charged with a crime, versus a complaint,” Yvonne Fangmeyer, of the dean of students office, told the Associated Press.
But federal officials said any crime reported to any campus official should be reported to the government.
“If the dean is aware of something occurring on campus that is a crime, it should be reported,” said David Burgeron, the federal official who prepared the report.
Other Big Ten schools said this inconsistency on the UW campus skews the data and makes the other schools look worse than they are.
“It does seem in a way like you pay for reporting the facts faithfully,” said Diane Brown, spokesperson for the University of Michigan.
