According to the report, forcible sexual offenses declined to nine incidents in 2009, from 18 in 2008. Burglaries also declined to 45 in 2009, from 58 in 2008. There were no incidents of aggravated assault in 2009, compared to five incidents in 2008.
Judicial referrals for liquor law violations declined to 90 in 2009, from 109 referrals in 2008, while arrests for those violations held steady at 10 both years. There were also five fewer drug abuse arrests and 18 fewer drug abuse judicial referrals.
The University’s Forrestal Campus recorded its first burglary in three years, the only “reportable crime” on that campus over the time period covered by the report.
Duncan Harrison, associate director of support services for Public Safety, attributed the decline in crime to community members’ increased attention to “crime prevention” and “safeguards that they can take to help them not become a victim.”
“Security on campus cannot ... be accomplished just by Public Safety,” he said. “Security only works in layers.”
Director of Public Safety Paul Ominsky said in an e-mail that the department is “focused on community-oriented public safety.”
“We rely on students, faculty and staff to contribute to security on our campus by reporting suspicious activities and using common sense when carrying out their daily activities,” he explained.
The revised missing persons guidelines, which comply with new federal regulations meant to streamline the response to a missing persons report, allow for students to designate an emergency contact via Public Safety’s website for use in case they go missing.
No later than 24 hours after a student is determined missing, Public Safety will alert the listed emergency contact, as well as either the Princeton Borough or Princeton Township police. For missing students under 18 who are not emancipated, the “custodial parent or guardian” must be notified, according to the text of the legislation, the 2008 Higher Education Opportunity Act.
“Our policies are not changing,” Ominsky said, noting that the department currently notifies local police for missing persons cases.
Harrison also said the new requirements will not have a significant impact on the department’s approach.
“From a Public Safety standpoint, when a student becomes missing, the first people we really go to are their friends, their roommates ... their teammates,” Harrison said, adding that “they may have a better idea of where the person is than the parent [who is] not present.”
Ominsky noted that all of Public Safety’s recent missing persons cases have had positive outcomes. “Missing person cases can be complicated because adults have a right to travel and not tell friends and loved ones where they are going or where they are,” he said.
The new law does not preclude Public Safety from contacting parents anyway, Harrison said, adding that the parent notification process is usually handled through the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students.
Ominsky noted, however, that parents are typically the ones who request Public Safety “to check on their son or daughter.”
The overall intention of the legislation is “to give the missing student an advocate in the process who can make sure that local law enforcement, and the broader community including local news media, are doing everything they can to help find their missing loved one,” according to an analysis by Campus Safety magazine.
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