By Ashlyn Beck | News Editor
Last year, reports of motor vehicle theft, liquor law violations and stalking increased. Meanwhile, reports of rape on campus and in surrounding areas decreased, according to Baylor’s annual Fire Safety and Security report.
Per the Clery Act, higher education institutions participating in federal financial aid programs must disclose crimes reported on campus, in surrounding areas and at locations owned by the institution. Baylor’s “Clery geography” includes the Louise Herrington School of Nursing in Dallas and the Diana R. Garland School of Social Work on Washington street.
There were 20 reports of motor vehicle theft in 2023, more than triple the six reports filed in 2022. Baylor spokesperson Lori Fogleman said the increase in motor vehicle theft reports is likely due to the rising popularity of electric scooters, motorized bicycles and e-bikes on campus.
“BUPD encourages students and others to securely lock motorized scooters and bicycles with a U-lock in well-lit locations that generally have a lot of people around. It’s also advisable to check on a locked scooter or bike regularly,” Fogleman wrote in an email.
The report also noted a rise in student housing liquor law violation arrests, but a decline in judicial referrals. In 2022, there were 43 liquor law violation arrests in student housing and 91 judicial referrals. However, 2023 saw the inverse, with 89 arrests and 43 judicial referrals.
Rob Engblom, senior associate director for Campus Living and Learning, said a typical arrest for a liquor law violation is essentially just a citation. The flip in the numbers is probably due to BUPD still following COVID-19 protocol in 2022, Engblom said.
“Baylor police were still operating with some of their COVID protocols, so they were responding less in person to alcohol incidents because they were trying to keep their officers safe,” Engblom said. “Our preference and their preference is that they respond in person. But for what I’d say is a lower-level alcohol violation, they weren’t responding in person as much as they normally [would].”
There was a small increase in stalking reports between 2022 and 2023 despite a near double increase between 2021 and 2022 (23 and 40 reports respectively).
Meanwhile, rape reports decreased by more than half, going from 22 in 2022 to seven in 2023. Importantly, this statistic only points to reports of rape, not necessarily actual cases of rape within Clery geography.
Sommer Dean, lecturer in Baylor’s department of journalism, public relations and new media, is a licensed attorney and teaches a course on law and ethics in journalism. Dean said the report should be taken with a grain of salt.
“The number that it says does not necessarily mean that these crimes have been investigated and confirmed, but they were reported,” Dean said.
It’s hard to make meaning of any significant increase or decrease in reported crime over a single year, Fogleman said. When deciding what actions to take, the university looks for patterns over the course of several years to adjust safety and security measures.
“Campus safety is a comprehensive effort across the university, so we don’t employ security measures only based on this report. We do it because it’s the right thing to do and a reflection of our caring campus community,” Fogleman said.
