The ACU Police Department in 2015 received one report of rape in a campus residence hall, arrested two on drug charges on campus and one on liquor law violations on campus, according to an annual crime statistics report released Wednesday.
Other notable crime incidents for 2015 included 11 on-campus burglaries – up from 2014’s nine on-campus burglary incidents. There were two reported on-campus drug violations that did not result in arrest, down from 2014’s four incidents, and four on-campus liquor law violations not resulting in arrest, down one from the five reported in 2014.
“In particular in 2015, we had a rash of burglaries at the abandoned Sherrod Park apartments,” said ACU Police Chief Jimmy Ellison said. “To some degree, those spiked our burglary numbers. We are hoping to lower numbers this year by eliminating some of that with increased patrolling in the area.”
The residence hall rape offense occurred at University Park Apartments, which is considered a residence hall for federal law purposes, Ellison said. The suspect in the case was an acquaintance of the victim and the case was referred to the district attorney for prosecution.
The Annual Campus Crime and Fire Safety Report, mandated by the federal Clery Act, is complied by Clery Compliance director, Sgt. Bob Delony. The report is released each year at the end of September by ACUPD. It compiles crime statistics from ACU’s main campus, as well as ACU at CitySquare in Dallas and each of the three study abroad locations – Oxford, England, Leipzig, Germany and Montevideo, Uruguay.
One incident of non-campus burglary was reported at CitySquare in Dallas, and no incidents abroad were reported.
The report helps community members see a broad picture of campus crime over the previous calendar year, and Chief Ellison said community engagement plays the biggest role in reducing crime on and around campus.
“We always want to remind everyone that students, faculty, staff and the community holds the key to reducing those numbers – not the Police Department,” Ellison said.
The report also includes information on ACUPD’s authority, jurisdiction and procedures, as well as policies on drugs and alcohol and definitions of crimes, as defined in the Clery Act and in Texas law.
“I want to compliment and commend Sgt. Delony for his work in managing Clery compliance throughout the year and putting together what I think is a very comprehensive report for the campus,” Ellison said.
ACUPD works in conjunction with the Office of Student Life to create programs and campaigns intended to end incidents of domestic violence and sexual assault on campus.
In 2015, Student Life offered 12 different programs to present material on preventing sexual assault, domestic and dating violence and stalking – ranging from Wildcat Week sessions to screenings of the documentary Hunting Ground.
For 2015, Ellison said the police department felt good about overall crime numbers, especially those related to sexual assault incidents.
“We do realize sex assault is under reported and often unreported,” Ellison said. “We our focusing a lot of our educational efforts on awareness and prevention.”
ACUPD will place a heavy emphasis on bystander intervention training in the 2016-17 school year.
“Bystander intervention is critical because the vast majority of campus-based sexual assault in the United States are more often than not related to dating situations, and bystanders often recognize warning signs before victims,” Ellison said.
ACUPD still is working out specifics of training, but the department plans to do an assortment of presentations that they believe would be informative to ACU’s student population, both male and female.
The report also included campus fire statistics. In 2015, University Park Apartments had one stove fire resulting in $1,000 worth of damages. Gardner Hall had one fire caused by renovation wiring, resulting in $150 of damage but no injuries. McDonald Hall had one fire attributed to a hair appliance overheating, resulting in $100 of damage and no injuries. Barret Hall had one fire incident caused by an overheated dryer in the dorm laundry room.
All on-campus residences completed two fire drills, except University Park Apartments, according to the report.