Crime Down 31% at Orange Coast Since ‘88, Campus Officials Report

Despite four reports of sexual assaults at Orange Coast College last year, overall crime on the campus has dropped 31% since 1988, campus officials reported Thursday.

Reported major crimes were down since in all categories except aggravated assault, which includes the four sexual assaults reported in 1991. The first report came in March, when a student told police she was abducted from a college parking lot and raped in the lot of a nearby supermarket.

The incident, followed by three other sexual assaults in the college’s parking lots during the next nine months, sparked a major focus on campus safety and heightened awareness of the campus crime problem among students and the public, said John Farmer, director of campus safety.

The incidents spurred campus officials to hire a graveyard-shift security officer, spend $50,000 in extra outdoor lighting, install emergency telephones in and around parking lots, and have security officers patrol the parking lots at night in carts with flashing yellow lights. The highly visible security was almost certainly the main reason campus crime has dropped, Farmer said.

“When you go from having three officers patrolling the parking lots and you beef it up to eight officers patrolling the parking lot, not only is your visibility higher, but it acts as a deterrent to people contemplating a crime,” he said. “When they’re thinking of breaking into a car and every time they turn around a security guard drives by with flashing lights, they’re going to want to move on to greener pastures.”

The crime report noted that motor vehicle thefts dropped from 22 in 1988 to 12 in 1991, a 45% decrease. Burglaries dropped from 59 to 35, a 41% decrease.

Farmer prepared the crime statistics to comply with the national Student Right-to-Know and Campus Security Act. The law, signed by President Bush in November, 1990, requires colleges and universities to report crime statistics to students and staff. Orange Coast College will print its crime statistics in the upcoming fall schedule of classes.

The numbers show that there were no homicides, rapes or robberies at Orange Coast College since the 1988 school year. Last year’s rape is not reported because it occurred off campus, Farmer said.

Crime in Decline

Campus crime at Orange Coast College declined 31% over the two-year period 1988/89 to 1990/91. Nearly all the crimes during that interim were assaults, burglaries or auto thefts. There were no homicides, rapes, robberies, drug abuse or weapons violations.

1990-91 1988-89 % Change Aggravated assaults 12 8 +33% Burglaries 35 59 -41% Motor vehicle thefts 12 22 -45% Liquor law violations 2 0 + Total 61 89 -31%

Source: Orange Coast College