The report's statistics are gathered from Campus Police, the Town of Amherst, the Dean of Students Office and Health Services. Trends are noted within the disclosure. According to the report, the number of on-campus burglary incidents increased from 21 in 2004 to 30 in 2005. Incidents of on-campus aggravated assault have remained the same-one account in each year. Forcible sex offenses decreased from five in 2004 to three incidents in 2005.
Chief of Campus Police John Carter commented that criminal activity at the College has remained consistently low over the past several years. In the last three years, there have been no incidents of arson, non-forcible sex offenses, negligent manslaughter, murder, non-negligent manslaughter or robbery.
Campus Police reported no liquor law violations or weapons possessions violations in 2005, but noted two incidents of drug abuse violation. However, there have been a significant number of disciplinary referrals. The report lists 121 liquor law violations, 18 drug abuse violations and two weapons possessions.
Twenty burglary offenses were committed in residence halls in 2005. There were three forcible sex offenses in residence halls in 2005 and 40 reported larceny incidents in resident halls.
Carter discussed the measures and preventative steps that the College has recently taken to promote safety on campus. "In addition to the proprietary full-time police department, Amherst has a supplemental student security group, and takes full advantage of modern crime prevention facility designs and technologies," he said. "One very visible example was the change to the proximity card access system."
The report also lists incidences that occurred on non-campus property, such as the Amherst College Book Repository. Statistics show that there were no crimes on non-campus property from 2003-05. According to Campus Police, non-campus includes any building or property-other than a branch campus-owned or controlled by the College that is used in direct support of, or in relation to, the College's educational purposes, but is not within the College's main geographic area.
Students can also find statistics for crimes that occurred on the Town of Amherst's public property that is within the campus or immediately adjacent to and accessible from the campus. Although the number of aggravated assault incidences dropped from four in 2003 to none in 2005, there was an increase in the number of motor vehicle theft and robbery incidents. While there were no such incidences in 2003 and 2004, two motor vehicle thefts and one robbery incident occurred last year.
The Disclosures Act was passed in 1990 under the name "Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act" after Jeanne Ann Clery, a 19-year-old student at Lehigh University, was raped and murdered while asleep in her dorm room. After Clery's parents learned that 38 previous violent crimes had previously occurred at the school, they, along with other campus crime victims, pushed for the Disclosures Act in Congress.
Carter explained that one of his goals as Chief of Campus Police is to make the police department very accessible to the campus community. "I suggest that one of the best ways to learn about the department and what we can offer is to have a conversation with any of the police officers," he said.
Campus Police currently has close-working relationships with the resident counselors, ACEMS, Student Security, the Peer Advocates, the Dean of Students Office and the Physical Plant. It also has collaborative ties with the town police and public safety departments at other colleges.