Vandalism reports down on campus

On any given day, students may return to their cars and find key scratches or return to their apartments and find a window broken. But, the likelihood of it happening has slowly but steadily decreased during the last four years at IU.\nBetween Aug. 1, 2000 and April 6, 2001, the number of reported vandalisms totaled 260, while the number stands at 163 for the same period this year. Each year in between, the number of reported vandalisms has slowly dropped. \nA USA Today article in 2002 reported "a new study shows people who live within a mile of a college campus are more than twice as likely as those living farther away to face public disturbances," with vandalism being one of them.\nWhile the number of overall incidents has decreased, the number occurring at Greek houses has remained steady and increased in proportion over the years. During the year, vandalisms on campus have ranged from destruction of street signs, smashing of windows, spray-painting on Greek houses and automobile vandalism, among others. \nIn recent weeks, Acacia fraternity saw an instance of public vandalism with "Fag" spray-painted on an engraved stone on the front lawn. \nIU Police Department Lt. Jerry Minger said there are a lot of factors when dealing with vandalism and to attribute the decline to any cause would require more detailed research.\n"You would have to look at the different types of vandalisms," Minger said. "Then you would need to do an analysis, check out the different locations, time of day and type of neighborhood. It's hard to make a snap determination if you don't know exactly what you're looking at."\nMinger said the best way to combat against these instances of vandalism is for students to take note of the similarities in occurrences.\n"There's always safeguards, whether it be vandalism or protecting property against theft," he said. "You would have to look to see when those incidents were happening. For example, increase lighting if most of the incidents would happen at night."\nMinger said there are also socioeconomic factors that could effect the data.\n"Different types of people are coming to campus at different times," he said. "There was a time we had a lot of incidents where juveniles were tagging, and that caused an increase in vandalism cases. Also, in the summer, when school is out, there are more juveniles around. Factors like that can also effect those numbers."\nCampuses across the country are facing similar problems. In Nov. 2003, the Ball State Intrafraternity Council recognized the growing number of Greek vandalisms, making it the first time any IFC created legislation on the matter. In the same month, University of New Mexico Greek houses suffered nearly $5,000 worth of damage in an extreme ring of vandalism cases, according to University Wire articles.\nWhile public vandalism often occurs at Greek houses or happens to numerous cars, a large number of incidents occur in many of the residence halls.\nMcNutt Promoting Responsibility in Damage Elimination has hung signs throughout the dorms in the hope of deterring vandals and encourage residents to report any incidents they see. Projects such as these may have helped in contributing to the decrease. \n"Community responsibility means that you should turn in those who are making everyone's life hell. Don't be intimidated by bullies and report threats and intimidation along with damages," states one sign. "When someone asks, 'tell them you didn't see nothin' ... don't cover for those that are not worth covering, they wouldn't do it for you."\n-- Contact staff writer Mallory Simon at mgsimon@indiana.edu.