Stanford has the highest rate of reported crimes per student out of California university campuses, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education.
There were 404 allegations reported to campus officials at Stanford between 2012 and 2014, or about 7.94 crimes annually per 1,000 students, according to the report.
Stanford University spokesman Brad Hayward told the San Jose Mercury News that crime statistics are higher at Stanford because most students and some faculty live on campus.
Stanford promotes reporting sexual offenses to the police, he said, and the university publishes its crime statistics online. There were 30 reported sex offenses in 2014 and 26 in 2013, according to Stanford’s statistics.
“Crimes that typically occur in residential settings are reflected in our on-campus crime statistics,” Hayward said. “The university and its police force are committed to providing a campus environment in which all members of our community feel safe and secure.”
Many of the reported crimes are burglary, Hayward said. He cited a few vehicle theft incidents, mainly for golf carts used to travel around campus.
UC Berkeley ranks second in highest reported crime rate, with a rate of 3.29 crimes per 1,000 each year, the report said.
UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof said that crime at Berkeley comes from the urban location, where “crime remains a challenge.”
According to Mogulof, Berkeley is implementing successful crime-reduction strategies by providing human and financial resources, resulting in a 23 percent reduction in major crimes since 2014.
UC Santa Cruz and UCLA are tied for the third-highest reported crime rate, at 2.84 annually per 1,000 students, according to the report.
Across all accounted California college campuses, burglary was the most common type of crime reported, followed by vehicle theft and assault and sex crimes, according to the report.
The department collected the data under the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act. The law counts allegations reported to university coaches, faculty members, resident advisors and members of the dean of students’ office instead of police. The information was compiled by 1point21 Interactive, a Southern California data-visualization firm.
Contact Gillian Brassil at gbrassil ‘at’ stanford.edu.