Campus Crime Statistics Go Online

Two days after the government deadline for college reporting of campus crime statistics, the U.S. Department of Education now has a database of crime rates at most colleges and universities that is available online.

But differences in schools' interpretations of the reporting requirements means that the information may not allow for direct comparisons of the crime rates at Harvard and at other schools.

Harvard used information on crime from the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD), as well as from the cities of Cambridge, Boston and Somerville to compile the reports, according to Peggy A. McNamara, HUPD spokesperson.

But schools define for themselves which areas are "reasonably contiguous places" and must therefore be included in campus crime figures, according to Howard K. Clery III, treasurer of Security on Campus, Inc., an organization that works on reporting and preventing campus crime.

Schools' different standards mean that the results in the government index may vary from those of other groups that rank campus safety.

For example, the self-reported crime statistics in the database suggest that Yale's campus is safer than Harvard's, even though New Haven has higher theft, murder and violent crime rates than Cambridge--and is listed as money.com's 195th safest city, compared to Cambridge's 40th safest city rating.

The self-reported statistics suggest that that Harvard's crime rates exceed those of Yale in almost every major category, from aggravated assault to burglary to forcible sex offenses.

A Yale Police Department spokesperson declined comment yesterday on how Yale compiled its statistics and whether its definition of a reasonably contiguous area differed from Harvard's.

Clery said the site still has "lots of problems" because it relies on self-reported statistics. Clery said that some colleges only include in statistics those crimes reported to campus police, although under federal law, colleges are required to survey all campus security authorities, including deans, resident assistants and athletic coaches.

The relevant federal law, the Clery Act, is named after Howard Clery's sister, who died in a campus crime.

This marks the first year that the statistics were published online under strict standards in accordance with the 1998 amendments to the Clery Act.

David A. Bergeron, the chief of policy and budget development of the U.S. Department of Education, said that the website exists "to disclose to students, prospective students, family, faculty, and staff information about crimes that occur on college campuses.

He agreed that differences in reporting systems may be problematic, but said the department "will use [its] authority to do reviews [of institutions that misrepresent themselves]."

Bergeron says he is "very surprised at the level on interest in these data" offered on the site.

"All we did was collect on a website information that [colleges and universities] had already compiled," he said.

The database is online at http://www.ope.ed.gov/security/search.asp.