UNLV crime rates remain low

Friday, Sept. 30, 2005 | 11:15 a.m.

UNLV's campus continues to be a relative safe haven compared to the crime in the surrounding area, a public safety and security report released this week shows.

Crime statistics on campus on Maryland Parkway decreased in almost all areas in 2004. Overall thefts decreased by nearly 20 percent, according to the annual report mandated by federal law.

Statistics for 2005 are not yet available.

A total of 369 thefts were reported in 2003 and only 298 in 2004, said James Morrow, crime analysis program supervisor at UNLV. Of those 298, 146 occurred in university buildings and residence halls, 82 involved car thefts or items stolen from cars, 45 involved stolen bicycles or bicycle parts, and 25 others were theft-related incidents or incidents in which a person was found with stolen property.

UNLV police have increased surveillance of the perimeter and the parking lots and assigned officers to residence halls to increase security, Michael Murray, deputy director of Public Safety, said. The campus saw a spike in thefts in 2003 from the previous year.

The increased presence is a deterrent, Murray said. The presence of officers around the edges of campus goes a long way to keeping problems out, he said.

"I think the campus is perceived as sort of an oasis," Murray said.

Working with Metro Police in February, officers quickly caught one man suspected of groping women on campus. Another man who was peeping into women's restrooms was not caught, but the incidents stopped after UNLV police sent out a warning to everyone on campus about the two men.

One forcible sex offense was reported in 2004, compared with four in 2003 and three in 2002, according to the report. There were no other violent or hate crimes reported on campus.

The campus saw a significant decrease in the number of arrests in connection to alcohol violations, from 122 in 2003 to 62 in 2004. The number of drug-related arrests also decreased slightly, from 69 in 2003 to 60 in 2004.

There was an increase in weapons-related arrests, from 12 in 2003 to 17 in 2004, which Murray said he could not explain.

UNLV's student body has increased by about 6 percent every year, adding to the population the police officers oversee. The campus serves about 27,000 students.