The Stanford University Department of Public Safety (SUDPS) released its annual Safety, Security and Fire Report on Wednesday. Here are a few key takeaways of crime reports crime to SUDPS over the past three years.
Overall trend
Campus crime reports of aggravated assault, rape, sex offenses, domestic violence and stalking are on the rise, according to the report.
Though reports of those crimes fell from 2019 to 2020, they increased in 2020 — a shift SUDPS partially attributed to the lack of students on campus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“To some extent, this shift can be attributed to the impact the pandemic had on the on-campus population and social activities at the time,” wrote SUDPS spokesperson Bill Larson.
Sex offenses and stalking
The number of sex offenses decreased from 63 in 2019 to 32 in 2020. There was an increase in 2021 with 44 sex offense reports.
Incidents of stalking also decreased between 2019 and 2020 before a slight increase last year. 42 cases of stalking were reported in 2019, which decreased to 26 in 2020. Reports of stalking increased to 29 in 2021.
Burglaries and motor vehicle theft
Theft-related crimes displayed an opposite pattern. Burglaries and theft of motor vehicles and golf carts increased from 2019 to 2020 before decreasing in 2021. Car break-ins and catalytic converter thefts are not included in this report since they are not tracked within Clery Act statistics.
Reports of burglary increased from 37 in 2019 to 42 in 2020 before a decrease to 31 in 2021. Motor vehicle theft also increased from 14 to 24 cases in between 2019 and 2020 before decreasing to 18 reports in 2021.
Campus arrests
The number of campus arrests also decreased overall, likely because of the decreased student presence on the Stanford campus.
The only arrest category that increased was drug violations. 14 drug violation arrests were reported in 2019 compared to 16 in 2020. Arrests related to drug violations decreased to seven in 2021.
Hate crimes
The rate of hate crimes increased from 5 in 2019 to 10 in 2020. This number subsequently decreased to 2 hate crime reports in 2021.
Larson wrote that while it is difficult to predict how the coming year might look, SUDPS will continue its “efforts to prevent or reduce crimes through outreach and education and in collaboration with our community members.”