The Board of Regents for the State of Iowa will be receiving quarterly reports on the crime statistics at the University of Iowa, University of Northern Iowa and Iowa State University.

The first quarter ended March 31, 2013 and the following statistics were provided by the universities’ public safety departments.

This year, Iowa State University reported 371 total charges among 225 students, or 61 percent. Last year, the report was 69 percent for the first quarter. The University of Iowa reported 54 percent and the University of Northern Iowa reported 75 percent for the first quarter of 2013. 

“Alcohol and drug charges constitute a majority of the arrests made, which is typical in a university community,” said Jerry Stewart, Director of Public Safety at Iowa State University. In regards to alcohol-related charges, Iowa State Reported 187 total alcohol-related charges among 115 students, or 61 percent. The report from last year was 184 charges among 117 students, or 64 percent.

Stewart said robbery, aggravated assault, criminal mischief, disorderly conduct, intimidation, theft and criminal trespass were at, or near, a five-year low in 2012.

“Clearly, there’s work to be done. There’s still improvement to be made,” said Tom Hill, senior vice president of Student Affairs at Iowa State University.

Hill had not seen the statistics, but believes the university is headed in the right direction after hearing the numbers of total offenses and incidents and alcohol-related charges have decreased.

The “All Other Offenses” category includes criminal and non-criminal offenses. The criminal offenses are Interference with Offical Acts, Falsifying Driver Licenses, Harassment and Filing a False Report to a Law Enforcement Agency. Non-criminal offenses are accidents, disturbances and personal injury.

Of the offenses listed, one individual may account for multiple offenses, but only one arrest.

Alcohol-related charges include public intoxication, operating while intoxicated, possession of alcohol under the legal age, open container, consuming in public, bootlegging, providing liquor to minors, attempt to purchase alcohol by minor and serving/selling alcohol after hours.

“When a community feels comfortable and trusting of their police, they tend to report on a much more frequent basis, which in turn results in an increase in crime statistics,” said Stewart.

The Department of Public Safety assigned someone to conduct prevention and outreach activities at the beginning of the year. Stewart isn’t sure if yes if this will help reduce victimization, but more crimes are reported to police departments when they are active in community outreach.