UH Police Department Chief Malcolm Davis said the University is a safer place than indicated in the 2008 Annual Security Report at a question-and-answer session with communications students Wednesday.
‘The crime has never been as bad here as the perception is,’ Davis said.
In 1990, the government signed into law the Clery Act, which requires all colleges and universities who receive federal financial aid to disclose information about crimes committed on their campuses in an annual report to be made available to students.
The act was named after 19-year-old Jeanne Clery, who was raped and murdered as a freshman at Lehigh University.
If taken out of context, the crime statistics can seem staggering, but if compared with other schools in the nation they are average to slightly below-average.
In 2008, there were 46 burglaries at the University of Texas at Austin compared to just 22 at UH.’ UT also had 291 arrests for varying offenses, while UH only had 57.
‘This is something we have always done,’ Davis said.’ ‘I’ve been here for 25 years and we’ve always published the crime stats.’
Many feel UH is a dangerous school, but Davis disagrees.
‘Perception is not reality,’ Davis said. ‘I’ve never seen any evidence that would warrant (UH’s) reputation.’
