In a recent e-mail to students living on campus, Dean of Residence Life Eddie Hull wrote, "As you know, there has been an increase in burglaries in campus residences this month. There are likely several reasons for this, including the state of the economy, but the reality is that without an opportunity, thefts are very rare... Please make a special effort to keep your door locked when you are not going to be in your room/apartment, and when you are sleeping. Doing so will help turn this situation around and send the message that Duke is not 'easy pickings.'"
I'll ignore the emerging debate over whether the doors were locked, but recognize that such questions exist (apparently a burglar knocked the sliding door off its hinges?). I have issues with some other claims. Even though Hull qualified the statement about the economy by suggesting there are several reasons for a bump in crime rates, there is no reason to assume that these rates will improve drastically when (if?) we get through this tough market.
For one, Durham's crime rates are high regardless of the economy. Based on a 2003 (pre-recession) FBI report, Durham had about 1.4 times the national average of violent crimes, 1.5 for property crimes. So our assumptions can begin here: Even in a bull market, Durham is going to be less safe than most of the country.
Duke, of course, has much lower crime rates than surrounding Durham, and I have no intention of calling out our committed police force and security teams. They're doing a great job. I mean to make a tirade about the amount of crimes that the police force has to contend with. Let's look at the crime reports the DUPD releases every week. The report for the week that began Monday includes: six instances of breaking and entering auto (i.e. stealing things from locked cars) in East Campus parking lots; theft from person (meaning the victim was right there) in Perkins; and sexual battery and first degree kidnapping in the Gardens Sunday at 3 p.m. (reported Monday).
I'm going to insert some footnotes to this crime report. (1) I'm misleading you a bit in calling this a weekly report. The week for this report began on Monday and this column was written on Tuesday. That means these are some of the crimes reported on Monday alone. (2) There were zero crimes among these that could have been prevented by locking a door. (3) There were zero crimes that could have been prevented by smarter action on the student's part. We should not expect a person in the Gardens on a Sunday afternoon, nor a person in the library, nor a person who parks his car on East Campus overnight, to have anticipated a crime coming his way. (4) This is not a common college experience. Let's look at the stats.
Stanford issues Community Crime Alerts for major crimes that bear mentioning because they are of great concern to the community. Among their list: no crimes in 2009, burglaries (armed and otherwise) only in the neighboring community of Palo Alto (i.e. none on campus) and bike thefts in 2008.
Duke: 1. Peer institutions: 0.
Johns Hopkins, notoriously viewed to be in a "bad neighborhood," also releases a weekly crime report. The full week from Jan. 26 to Feb. 2: an on-campus theft of an unattended jacket in the gym, and the arrest of a book thief in an off-campus Barnes & Noble.
Duke: 2. Peer institutions: 0.
The list continues, and this isn't the forum for a full comparison to every college of comparable size. Look at the reports for yourselves, and a pattern will emerge-a pattern that has nothing to do with whether or not we're in a recession. It has everything to do with our campus, our surrounding environment and people who think that if only we doe-eyed students would lock our doors, they wouldn't have to explain such high crime rates.
We're not getting assaulted in the Gardens in the broad daylight of Sunday afternoons because it's a recession. We're not getting our cars broken into because we forgot to lock our doors. And we're not getting robbed in person in the library because we're naive. It's because the lighting in our parking lots is abysmal. It's because each Central Campus apartment comes complete with a big glass "LOOK AT ALL THE STUFF YOU CAN STEAL" sign that someone in the 70s thought could pass for a sliding door. It's the minimal amount of blue-light Help Phones in the Gardens. And most of all, it's the stubbornness of those who, despite recognizing that drastic times might be creating drastic criminal measures, aren't taking many extra measures to protect us. Still think it's the economy? Please.
Danny Lewin is a Trinity junior. His column runs on Thursdays.
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