Police: Crime on decline at university

      UNLV criminal justice student Leia Fleischman points to the university as a successful model in community policing. She credits gardeners, bicycle police officers and students with helping to stop neighborhood crime fr om spilling onto campus.
      While slayings in the area of Tropicana Avenue and Maryland Parkway just south of the 350-acre campus have grabbed headlines in recent months, the rate of violent crime at the urban university h as remained low.
      "People at UNLV are very safety-minded," said Fleischman, who heads the university's campus-safety committee. "A lot of students going to UNLV and a lot of people working at UNLV realize how important i t is to keep this campus safe. We believe in prevention. It's in our best interest to do what we can to make sure crime from the surrounding area doesn't touch us."
      "We do have lots of eyes and ears out here," echoed UN LV Police Chief David Hollenbeck. "They watch what's happening and they report suspicious activity to us. It's a community effort -- a lot of working together -- and we're doing pretty well when you look at the statistics. We've also been pretty lucky, to be honest."
      Eleven aggravated assaults and four robberies were reported at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 1996. No rapes or murders were reported. In 1995, one rape, one aggravated assault and one robbery were reported on campus. Three robberies and three aggravated assaults were reported in 1994.
      While the rate of violent crime increased last year on the growing campus, it has dropped sharply from 1991, when 34 violent crime s were reported.
      Rape is one offense that regularly goes underreported at UNLV, where student health workers arrange counseling and medical tests for one to three rape victims a semester, said Student Health Center Dire ctor Lori Winchell. By the time most students seek help at the center, 72 hours have passed and it's too late to gather scientific evidence to prosecute the case. Some victims don't file police reports.
      Such unreported rapes -- often date rapes of women between the ages of 18 to 25 -- don't show up in UNLV crime statistics. But a greater number of campuses around the country are counting sex offenses that students disclose to counselors.
     0; Under the federal Student Right-to-Know and Campus Security Act, universities and colleges that receive federal funding were forced in 1991 to begin publicly reporting crime statistics.
      At 489 campuses with 5,000 st udents or more, there were 4,421 robberies, aggravated assaults, killings and rapes in 1995, according to statistics kept by the U.S. Education Department. That compares with the 4,649 violent crimes reported on campuses in 1994, a one-year decline that r eflects a national trend.
      UNLV is a commuter school, with only 1,058 of its nearly 19,000 full- and part-time students living on campus in dormitories. And having a smaller on-campus population reduces opportunity for c riminal activity, Hollenbeck said.
      Theft is the most prevalent problem at UNLV, with 59 burglaries and 224 larcenies reported in 1996. That compares with 110 burglaries and 337 larcenies in 1995.
   & #160;  Many are "crimes of opportunity," such as bike and backpack thefts, Hollenbeck said.
      Over the past five years, 19 emergency call boxes have been installed around the university, giving students an easy way to call police for help or to report suspicious activity. More emergency call boxes, which have blue lights on top, are on the way to provide students with additional direct links to police dispatchers.
      "Our highest priority is to avoid violent crime, to keep it off our campus," Hollenbeck said.
      "When I'm on campus, I feel the safest I ever feel," UNLV theater student Laura VanLier e said.
      But she has friends living in apartments just east of campus who are frightened by crime in their neighborhood.
      "Once you cross Maryland Parkway, the security you feel on camp us goes away," VanLiere said. "It's not very safe over there at all."
      She said student and university leaders should increase efforts to inform students about crimes occurring in apartment complexes near UNLV.
  ;     Hollenbeck said the university's 22 police officers and sergeants are aware of high-profile crimes around campus but do not spend much time tracking crimes in the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Police Department.
 
60;    "The (university) officers working on the streets work very well with Metro," he said.
      Hollenbeck meets monthly with fellow Southern Nevada police chiefs, but he said crime surrounding UNLV is rar ely discussed. He does not spend a lot of time studying crime statistics from surrounding neighborhoods.
      At a time students are worried about criminal activity in surrounding neighborhoods, finding out how many students live near the university hasn't been a priority on campus.
      "We really haven't done any recent studies to see where students live," said Diane Muntal, a senior analyst in the university's Institutional Analysis & Planni ng department. The latest study, done at least five years ago, showed the largest percentage of students living off campus resided within the zip code boundaries close to the university, Muntal said.
      Some universities p rovide students with reports about neighborhood crime, and Hollenbeck said he's open to making such information available on a regular basis to UNLV students, if he's able to glean statistics from Las Vegas police.
      Flei schman said student government leaders are planning eventually to hand out packets of information about safety and crime prevention to every freshman. She was doubtful the information will be ready in time for the fall semester.
    0;  Kudos go to UNLV's Nidetch Women's Center, criminal justice student Tasha Bradley said, for a recent campaign to spread more information across campus about date rape.
      "They've made a really good start, and I think it will grow each year," said Bradley, who returned to UNLV in 1995 after studying there from 1988 to 1991. "More people are willing to talk about acquaintance rape. Students are talking to students. That's good. That's a drastic change from never t alking about it and letting (students) just keep on thinking it can't happen to them."
      This semester, Bradley, a rape victim, joined the Women's Center's Sexual Assault Prevention Peer Education Program, which trains st udents to teach campus groups about date rape and how to prevent it.
      "People want to keep quiet about acquaintance rape," said Bradley, who played on the Lady Rebels basketball team from 1989 to 1991. "My idea is, get m ore information out, especially to freshman who are trying to fit in. They are very vulnerable.
      "It happens a lot more than anyone wants to admit. The more information, the more education, the better off UNLV students w ill be."
      Bradley feels so strongly about rape prevention, she shares her story with student groups.
      "They need to know it takes a serious toll on your life," she said. "I hope I can h elp."