UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Monday, April 10, 1995
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5A
Crime report out for 1994
By Teresa Veazey
Kansan staff writer
While violent crime on the KU campus decreased this year, the number of property crimes went up, according to the KU police department's annual report for 1994.
Property crimes totaled 84.8 percent of crimes reported, according to the report. This was a 5.2 percent increase from 1993, when property crimes totaled 79.6 percent of reported crimes. Violent crimes in 1994, which were 7.9 percent of crimes reported, went down 1.3 percent. In 1993, violent crimes were 9.2 percent of all crimes reported. The remaining 7.3percent were other crimes reported in 1994
In 1994; there were 112 violent
crimes reported and 1,208 property crimes reported.
Theft was the most common property crime, while intimidation was the most prevalent violent crime. According to the report, neither sex was more likely to be a victim of a crime.
In spite of a decrease in violent crime, Rose Rozmiarek of the KU police department said she did not want people to develop a false sense of security.
"Even though violent crimes have gone down, people still have to remember that crimes do occur," Rozmiarek said.
In 1993, KU police changed the way they documented crimes with a change in their statistical recording system
Under the old system, called Uniform Crime Reporting or UCR, only the most severe crime in a police report was recorded statistically, Rozmiarek said.
When a burglary was reported, usually a theft or criminal damage would also occur, Rozmiarek said. Using the UCR system, only the burglary would be registered.
"Under the new system, each one is indicated in statistical information," she said. With the new system, called the National Incident Based Reporting System, the burglary, theft and criminal damage would all be recorded in statistics.
Because of the change, KU police could not compare statistics from the past two years with those of previous years. With the new system, it appears that there has been an increase in crime, Rozmiarek said.
College drinking still on rise
By Robert Allen
Kansan staff writer
Binge drinking continues to be a problem on college campuses, according to a survey released last week.
The survey, conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health, questioned 720 freshmen at 13 colleges known for heavy drinking. It found that 68 percent of the freshmen had binged on alcohol by the end of their first semester, 54 percent of them in their first week of school. Binge drinking was defined as having four or five drinks in a row.
"We anticipated they would drink a lot, but these findings surprised even us," said Henry Weschler of Harvard. "We found they are drinking early, and they do it often."
The University of Kansas is no exception to this trend, said Janine Gracy, coordinator of health promotion and education for Watkins Memorial Health Center.
"I don't think KU is different than any other college in "sweed," she said. "It's the No. 1 drinking problem, if not the No. 1 health problem."
Gracy said that alcohol often contributed to other health problems on campus, including unwanted pregnancies, date rape and sexually transmitted diseases.
"When we drink, we forget what we know," she said. "We forget we're intelligent. It's important for students to look at how they use alcohol and why they use alcohol. In binge drinking, you're drinking to get drunk, or to feel different than what you feel now."
For underage students, getting alcohol is very easy, said Valerie Flood. Weir freshman.
"Everybody knows someone who is 21 or has a fake ID." she said.
Flood said that binge drinking was not a large problem, as long as no one got hurt.
"I think most of my friends know it's wrong to go crazy," she said.
Gracy said that a combination of things made binge drinking acceptable among students.
"For some reason, it's socially acceptable to be a binge drinker," she said. "It's positive reinforcement."
Sloshedfrosh
The Harvard School of Public Health recently conducted a survey of college freshmen about binge drinking on college campuses. Here are some of the results:
The Associated Press contributed information to this story.
During the first semester, male and female freshmen binned almost equally
Every freshman questioned said alcohol was easy to get on campus, and 96 percent said school drinking rules had no effect.
■ More than half of those who binged regularly said they some times forgot what they did while drunk or regretted things they remembered.
SHAPE UP IN STYLE
Although 84 percent called alcohol a problem on campus, just over half considered it "appropriate" to get drunk at parties or with friends.
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McColium Hall in cooperation with the Association of University Residence Halls is sponsoring its seventh Battle of the Bands. Residents of KU and the community are invited to the front lawn of McColium Hall to watch local bands compete for cash and reconstitution.
All interested bands should submit a demo tape to the McCollum Hall front desk or mail one to: Battle of the Bands, McCollum Hall, 1800 Engel Road, Lawrence, Kansas 60405. Priority deadline 5:00pm, Monday April 10, 1995. For further information call (913) 864-6001 and leave a message -response guaranteed.
ASSOCIATION
40 University of Houston Keller