By Joann Groff
Assistant News Editor
The 2002 Pepperdine crime report is in, and not surprisingly, the campus looks as safe as ever. While skimming the short list of offenses, it becomes increasingly clear that the Department of Public Safety is cracking down — the number of arrests is on the rise.
There were zero arrests recorded in the year 2000, despite almost 90 referrals for discipline within the Student Disciplinary Council including 66 violations for liquor, 21 for drug abuse and two for weapons possessions. This was the highest number of drug write-ups at Pepperdine according to data dating back to the mid 1990s, but again, no arrests were made. In contrast, there has been 15 arrests made in the past two years.
“We have noticed a rise in driving intoxicated, students falling within the statute of drinking and driving,” Carpenter said. “We take that very seriously at Pepperdine because of safety concerns. We have also seen more students who are drunk in public, so intoxicated on campus that they cannot properly care for themselves.”
Carpenter said Pepperdine does not have the capability of caring for these individuals, as the Health Center is not open 24 hours a day to tend to their needs. Their only other option is to contact local authorities.
Not only are arrests up, but off-campus crimes have been recorded for the first time during the past two year. In 2000, all 90 referrals for discipline occurred on campus — no off-campus violations were recorded (prior to 1999, breakdown of location was not required). Last year, almost 20 crimes were recorded as occurring on public property. Carpenter insisted that this should in no way suggest that DPS is becoming involved off-campus, but that members of the community are contacting local sheriff’s departments out of concern for students involved in parties or fights.
“Neither the university, nor DPS, is involved in prosecutions which occur off campus,” Carpenter said. “It is a trend within the local community; they realize the seriousness of alcohol abuse. It is an attempt to care for the students and be pro-active in the community.”
Deputy Director of DPS Robert McKelvy brought up the rise in community police programs, which encourage neighbor involvement by riding bikes, getting out of their cars as opposed to driving through neighborhoods and being assigned to problem areas in the community.
Despite the increase of arrests being made, the numbers are still off-balance. More than 300 alcohol, drug and weapons violations have been referred for disciplinary action during the past three years at Pepperdine, and only 15 students have been arrested. According to DPS, this is because the majority of infractions do not involve breaking the law. The level of intoxication, the amount of a substance possessed and what the student has on their person is taken into account, and often times, the student is in violation of university policy, but not of an actual law. Discipline or counseling is often what is necessary in situations such as this.
Perhaps one of the only alarming statistics listed was that weapons possessions referrals have fluctuated from two in 2000 and zero in 2001, to six in 2002 — all of these weapons were discovered on campus.
“Last year, four of these incidents went through the Student Affairs office,” Carpenter said. “The two that went through DPS were a paintball gun and folding knives. Possession of these objects is in violation of university policy, but outside authority involvement was not necessary in these cases.”
There were one or less forcible rapes, aggravated assaults, arson and robbery in every one of the last four years recorded.
Dean of Student Affairs Dr. Mark Davis said these statistics speak for themselves. “The 2002 crime statistics for the Pepperdine Malibu campus reinforce
what I hear most students say – that we have a very safe campus,” Davis said. He went on to say there were several factors that contributed to the safety of the campus, primarily, the students. “We have students with strong character who respect other members in the community. We look out for eachother.”
The location of the school, controlled access into the campus and crime prevention services run through DPS also contribute to the safe environment, Davis said.
The information in the statistics is deemed very important by the University, and is available to all students. The Clery Act, originally known as the Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act of 1990, which was amended in 1992, makes it a requirement that schools afford victims of sexual assault on campus basic rights, and the information about these and other crimes be available for students to know. The Clery Act was named after Jeanne Clery, a 19-year-old college student who was awakened in her dorm room, raped and murdered on April 5, 1986. Her parents later discovered that students had not been made aware that about 38 violent crimes in the prior three years at the school, Lehigh University.
For Pepperdine’s crime statistics for the last eight years, go to: http://www.pepperdine.edu/publicsafety/department/safety/
October 30, 2003