The release of the Clery Act's Annual Security Report for Ohio University showed the greatest increases in crime coming from sex offenses and disciplinary referrals for liquor law violations.
The same day the Ohio University Police Department sent an email to students detailing the sex-related crimes reported so far in 2015, the department sent students another update related to campus crime.
OUPD released its 2015 Clery Act report Thursday, which details crime statistics at OU for the past three years. The Clery Act requires all universities to disclose information about all crime on and near their campuses.
While there was no clear increase or drop in crime across OU's Athens campus, trends for some crimes were apparent.
Forcible sex offenses, including rape, have risen. In 2012, there were 14 sex offenses reported, which dropped to nine in 2013. Last year, the number jumped to 22 sex offenses reported, a nearly 60 percent increase from the year before.
The greatest disparity from 2013 to 2014 was evident in the number of liquor law arrests. The number of students arrested for violating Ohio liquor laws dropped from 221 to 35 cases from 2013 to last year, an 84 percent decrease.
In contrast, the number of liquor law disciplinary referrals, or university citations, has risen by 60 percent from 2013 to 2014.
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Violations of Ohio liquor laws often result from an underage person attempting to purchase alcohol, purchasing alcohol with someone else’s ID or altering an ID to make an alcohol purchase, according to the state of Ohio's website.
Drug abuse arrests saw a 9.3 percent increase between 2013 and 2014. There were 149 drug abuse violations resulting in arrests in 2013 and 163 arrested for the same crime in 2014.
In addition, drug abuse violations resulting in disciplinary referrals saw a greater increase of 51 percent.
Disciplinary referrals for drug and alcohol violations appear to be consistent with the increase in code of conduct violations from the 2013-14 academic year to last year, according to a previous Post report.
Burglaries have continued to drop in the past two years. With 42 reported in 2012 and only six in 2014, that accounts for an 86 percent drop.
A link to the report was sent to the OU student body Thursday and included a message from OUPD.
"Ohio University is committed to assisting all members of the Ohio University community in providing for their own safety and security," the message said.
kf992915@ohio.edu
