More students reported rape incidents to the Boston University Police Department in 2015 than in the previous year, and the number of liquor law violations dropped, according to BUPD Annual Security and Fire Safety Report released Saturday.
Officers received 11 rape incident reports on campus in 2015 — nine of which took place in on the Charles River Campus and two at BU’s Medical Campus. In 2014, five total rape incidents were reported to BUPD, according to the report.
BUPD Acting Chief Scott Paré said he believes this increase in reports doesn’t indicate a rise in rapes on campus. Rather, he said, it’s an indicator that the university’s outreach program toward sexual assault survivors is working.
“Rape is a very under-reported crime,” Paré said. “The university has done a significant amount of outreach to encourage survivors in such crime to report it … Students now are more comfortable to report this. It has a lot to do with the university’s outreach education.”
Another highlight from the report is that liquor law violations dropped approximately 20 percent, from 1022 arrest and referral cases in 2014 to 803 in 2015, according to the report.
The drop in liquor law violations was due to programs like AlcoholEdu and education programs at orientation, Paré said.
BUPD has been working hard to curb crime rates by putting “more resources into high crime rate areas,” he added, and the department has sent extra patrols and installed more camera packages in areas that previously lacked surveillance.
Some off-campus areas are now also under BUPD’s surveillance, Paré said. BUPD has hired policemen from the Boston Police Department to help them patrol some off-campus areas, such as Allston, where underage drinkers and partygoers tend to gather, Paré added.
While the number of aggravated assault and drug law violations remained relatively steady on the Charles River Campus from 2014 to 2015, it is a different story for the Medical Campus — aggravated assault cases rose from zero to 27, and officers made 60 arrests regarding drug law violations, as opposed to two arrests in 2014.
Several students said that although they understand the danger that comes with BU’s urban campus, generally they feel safe on campus.
“I generally feel safe, especially with security guards,” Jasmine Nouravi, a College of Arts and Sciences junior, said. “But living in Boston, there’s definitely always going to be something to be afraid of in a city.”
While others said they are appalled by the increase of sexual assault cases reported on campus, Alec Long, a CAS senior, said BU should hold more mandatory education programs not only on alcohol usage, but also on sexual assault prevention.
“[The university] should hold some ‘consent workshops’ to help students dealing with sexual assaults,” he said.
Alp Yalcinkaya, a freshman in the Questrom School of Business, said he was “personally shocked” by the numbers of rape incidents reported to BUPD.
“I’ve never expected that the incidents would [be] doubled,” Yalcinkaya said. “If there is an increasing numbers of violations, then there should be some regulations to restrict [the perpetrators].”
Malena Lonardo, a CAS senior, said although she was surprised by the number of rape incidents, students should be more responsible than the administration in preventing campus sexual assault.
“Students should be more aware of the problem and protect themselves,” she said. “As far as I know, one of the incidents happened because the student left the door open when she was sleeping.”
Farhan Hoodbhoy, a CAS and Questrom sophomore, gave similar comment — he said students should be more aware of what might happen, and they should do more to protect themselves.
“It is harder [for BUPD] to prevent somebody from attacking somebody, but it is a lot easier if everyone stays aware and protect themselves,” Hoodbhoy said. “For example, [one should] go to parties with a group of people instead of just going alone, and always have someone who is able to stay sober around you.”
