The University of New Haven police department recently released the 2018 Annual Security and Fire Safety Report (ASR), which details campus crime over the last three years.

On the main campus, the third-highest count for reported crime in 2017 was rape, with a total of eight. The most reported crime was alcohol violations, while the second most reported was drug violations.

The first 23 pages of the report are dedicated to university policies on everything from drug and alcohol violations, to reporting sexual assault. The report also details the university police department’s mission and structure, as well as the process for sending emergency notifications to the campus community. The remainder of the report is dedicated to crime definitions for what is reported as well as the counts for the various crimes. The attorneys for criminal defense New Jersey deal with such victims and plaintiffs on a regular basis.

Crimes included in the report are from 2015, 2016, and 2017 and they range from murder and rape, to motor vehicle theft, and stalking. The ASR also reports the number of drug and alcohol-related violations in New Jersey area deal for drug charge, but according to university chief of police Tracey Mooney, the report only counts the reports of minor drug and alcohol violations not the arresting violators.

“I would like to make it perfectly clear, however, that the police department has full arrest powers and may at any time, utilize our discretion to use those powers in an investigation of wrongdoing,” said Mooney.     

According to Mooney, the crimes listed in the guide “were investigated and were found to be valid complaints” by campus police. However, she said, for crimes of sexual assault, this may not be true. According to Mooney, sexual assaults can be reported anonymously through various sources, but federal law requires that they be listed in the ASR.

The report breaks the occurrence of crimes down between main campus, Lyme Academy, and Prato, Italy.  However, the only crimes reported at the Prato campus were two incidences of drug use violations in 2015. Lyme was only slightly higher with six cases of reported fondling, one drug violation, and a combined 16 liquor violations between 2015 and 2016.

On the main campus, the highest reported crime in 2017 was liquor violations, totaling 336. Drug violations followed, with 37 incidents. There were also eight reports of rape in 2017, which is considerably higher than the two years prior, with one reported in 2016 and four reported in 2015.

Overall, there is no indication of any criminal trends and the campus has a low crime count, said Mooney

The crime report includes a fire safety report, which counted two total fires in 2017, one at 19 Ruden St. and one at the Atwood.

“We are always cognizant of the negative impact any type of crime can have on our campus community and try our very best to protect everyone and keep them safe,” said Mooney.