Two weeks ago, Simpson College Security released their annual college security report that is required under the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act. 

The Clery Act requires that institutions of higher education, both public and private, disclose information about criminal acts on and around a campus.  The report from Simpson gave both a security and fire report.

The incidents reported in the release happened between January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012. All the incidents in the report are compiled from incidents reported by the Office of Student Development.

In the report listed under criminal offenses, the only incidents that were reported were 3 forcible sexual assaults and 13 accounts of burglary, which does not include theft from a vehicle. Both of these offenses seemed to show a small jump from 2011 with no accounts of sexual assault and only 8 accounts of burglary.

“When we see a little bit of an increase I don’t think it’s too much outside of the statistical average, but anytime we see a jump in numbers we always kind of want to go back and take a look and see what that could be,” said Chris Frerichs, Director of Security at Simpson.

In regards to the jump in sexual assault, Frerichs said it would be ideal to have the number at zero, however he says that the awareness of these incidents and the amount of these that are reported sometimes allow for numbers to become skewed.

In the report when under incidents involving alcohol, illegal drugs and weapons, incidents were cited under two categories: arrests and disciplinary action from the school.

In the 2012 report, there was only one incident involving alcohol that led to an arrest on public property adjacent to campus. 

Many of the incidents regarding weapons, drugs and alcohol were taken care of through disciplinary actions with 1 drug abuse violation and 14 alcohol abuse violations. 

“Those are instances where we’re handling it through a disciplinary process on campus and it’s not something the police necessarily need to be involved in,” Frerichs said.

Frerichs said that overall he feels that Simpson offers students a feeling of well being and safety.

“I think that due to the types of students, faculty and staff and the ownership that those individuals take in everybody’s on campus, I would say that’s a fair statement to make,” Frierichs said.  “I feel that we are made aware when issues arise and I think that students faculty and staff step up and make us aware when things are happening.”