Alcohol violations down since 2016, according to annual safety report
Incidents of unlawful drinking on Central Michigan University's campus saw a substantial decrease between the years of 2017 and 2016, according to the Annual Security and Fire Safety Report released on Oct. 1.
The number of Liquor Law Violations Referred for Disciplinary Action fell from 783 in 2016 to 543 in 2017, and Liquor Law Arrests fell from 172 to 98.
Lt. Cameron Wassman of the CMU Police Department said a number of factors can go into such a drastic decrease in drinking violations, including stricter enforcement and adherence to the laws prohibiting underage drinking.
Other potential factors include the type of season the football team is having, and how the resulting parties can cause a spike in alcohol-related activity. Wassman cites the fact that in 2017, the football game accompanying "Western Weekend" was an away game, as opposed to 2016 when it was played at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.
"If we were to look back to 2012, we'd see that when Michigan State (University) played here that year, we had a big increase in alcohol violations," Wassman said. "The kind of events that happen also dictates how much enforcement action there is in those categories."
In addition to alcohol violations, the annual report includes statistics relating to other crimes responded to by the police department, include rape, assault, robbery and drug violations.
The amount of rape incidents reported to the police department was also slightly decreased from 2016. There were a total of 14 cases of rape in 2017 -- five on-campus, four on non-campus property and five on public property.
Crimes are categorized by whether they happened on-campus -- such as in the residence halls -- or on "public property" or "non-campus" areas.
"Non-campus" refers to areas outside of what is considered CMU's property, though are still under the university's jurisdiction, such as Greek houses. Wassman said the guidelines for what is considered public property are "kinda vague," though generally refer to the "ring" of properties surrounding campus, such as those on Bellows Street and Deerfield Road.
All universities in the country that receive federal funding are required to publish the annual reports on Oct. 1 due to the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act. Often more than 200 pages long, the annual reports also feature detailed instructions for safety procedures on campus, as well as fire safety reports.
Originally signed in 1990, the "Clery Act" is a federal statute that requires all colleges and universities receiving federal aid to publish to annually record and publish a comprehensive list of campus crime statistics.
Wassman said the annual report serves two main purposes to the campus community: letting the campus community know how prevalent certain serious crimes are at the university, and to provide instructions
"By disclosing important information, whether that's crime statistics or policy statements, it serves to keep the community safe," Wassman said. "It helps students, faculty and staff know what the police and university are doing when it comes to crime, sexual misconduct and things of that sort."
