Crime, fire reports now available

During the past year, IU has seen a slight increase in burglaries in on-campus properties and housing and a slight decrease in forcible sex offenses, according to IU’s annual Security and Fire Safety Reports for 2010.

Jerry Minger, IU’s director of public safety, said any amount of burglaries should cause students to be more cautious.

“I think that students need to realize that in any society, in any environment, crime occurs,” Minger said.

“What we’ve seen over the years is when students come to the University, they don’t feel that in an academic environment there will be crimes that occur. They need to realize they need to protect themselves and also their property and their
belongings.”

These reports became available Oct. 1 and includes resources for similar
situations.

Students and staff were notified last week through an email detailing the purpose of the reports.

Relaying this information is a requirement of the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act and the safety- and fire-related requirements of the Higher Education Opportunity Act.

Minger said these reports are important to keep the University informed.

“There’s a wealth of information in regard to safety and security for the community,” he said.

The reports contain specific policy statements and crime and fire statistics for the Bloomington campus from the previous three years.

They offer procedures to be followed in emergency situations of different types, including fire evacuation and sexual offenses.

Crimes initiated by hate were virtually non-existent between 2008 and 2010, according to the report. The majority of these crimes involved intimidation or property damage. 

“It’s not saying there are absolutely no hate crimes, but what it is saying is that there were not many crimes that were Clery-reportable crimes that were initiated by hate,” Minger said.

He said only the specific crimes listed in the report are those that are required to be reported by the Clery Act.

The fire reports detail the fire safety systems in place in each residence center on campus and the fire safety policies set as preventative measures. These reports deal more specifically with on-campus housing.

Minger said these reports are not meant to alarm students but rather to bring about awareness.

“There’s always the need to be safe and conscious about crimes that go on in the community,” Minger said. “This should be an educational factor for people to protect themselves and their property.”