Vanderbilt University experienced a decrease in crime in 2008 according to the latest figures compiled by the Vanderbilt Police Department for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s annual Crime on Campus report to be released in March.
VPD saw a decrease across several crime categories including the total numbers of burglaries, liquor law violations, assaults and sex offenses. Burglaries declined from 51 in 2007 to 30 in 2008. Liquor law violations, which include incidences such as underage drinking and violations of open container laws, also went down – from 119 in 2007 to 47 in 2008. However, DUIs – a separate category from liquor law violations – did increase to 80 in 2008, up from 67 the previous year.
Total assault offenses decreased from 147 in 2007 to 141 in 2008. The total assault category includes aggravated and simple assaults, as well as, intimidation and stalking. Police, however, did see a rise in simple assaults – from 79 in 2007 to 90 in 2008 – despite a decrease in the overall assault category.
VPD also reported fewer forcible sex offenses – 4 in 2008 down from 18 in 2007. The total sex offenses category includes rape and forcible fondling.
“We’re glad to see our efforts pay off and that our decreased crime rates mirror declining crime in Nashville overall,” said Cathy Ryan, Vanderbilt’s interim police chief.
Ryan said she believed several factors contributed to the decline in 2008 including increasing the visibility of officers on campus and VPD’s hiring a victim services coordinator who has been aggressive in both communication and being accessible to the campus community. The university also upgraded security card access to residence halls last year.
The statistics VPD provides to TBI include crime across the university, including the medical center. Future statistics reported to TBI will also include crime at Vanderbilt’s new facilities at 100 Oaks, which opened this year.
The Vanderbilt Police Department is one of Tennessee’s larger law enforcement agencies – including 100 commissioned officers and 29 civilian employees.
Vanderbilt’s commissioned police officers are empowered to make arrests as “special police officers,” through the authority of the chief of police of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County.
Vanderbilt officers with special police commissions have the same authority as that of a municipal law enforcement officer while on property owned by Vanderbilt, on adjacent public streets and sidewalks, and nearby neighborhoods.
An independent, privately supported research university employing more than 2,800 full-time faculty and a staff of more than 21,500, Vanderbilt is the largest private employer in Middle Tennessee and the second largest private employer in the state. About 6,500 undergraduates and 5,300 graduate and professional students study at Vanderbilt.
The Vanderbilt campus spans more than 300 acres in midtown Nashville.
Media Contact: Princine Lewis, (615) 322-NEWS
princine.lewis@vanderbilt.edu