The Oklahoma City University Police Department released the 2020 Annual Security and Fire Report on Oct. 8.
The Annual Security and Fire Report is required by federal law and contains crime statistics and policy statements for the university. OCUPD sent the report in an email to the campus community. The report is also posted annually on the OCUPD website. The policy statements address the university’s policies, procedures and programs concerning safety and security. The statistics list certain types of crimes reported to have happened on campus, on property owned by the university or on public property adjacent to the campus in the past three years, the email read.
Dexter Nelson, chief of police for OCUPD, said the main crime occurring on campus is theft. The report lists 12 total cases of burglary and six cases of motor vehicle theft in 2019. This includes crimes from the surrounding area.
“We are a known target for people around our campus for thefts. They come to our laundromat, and they steal clothing. We’re getting a high number of clothing thefts reported to us as well,” Nelson said. “Keep in mind though, the way our society is, thefts will always be with us. People are always going to steal given the opportunity.”
Nelson said he encountered four people a few weeks ago on campus who admitted they were there to steal bicycles. He said the people told him the stolen bicycles go to an area near Penn Square mall underneath Northwest Expressway where they are deconstructed, reassembled and sold.
Nelson said when he worked for the Oklahoma City Police Department, the annual reports would cover crime statistics within a half mile of his jurisdiction. Nelson said he was surprised he was only required to report on crimes on the university’s property and adjacent to it.
“If you looked at the stats within a half mile of us, the numbers would have been much higher,” he said.
Nelson said another notable statistic on the report is there was one murder in 2019, but it was not affiliated with the university.
“There was a gentleman that was found dead on McKinley, and McKinley is our Eastern border right off campus. It had nothing to do with the university, but it was on a street adjacent, so we had to list it,” he said.
In addition to crime statistics, Nelson said the report lists updates to Title IX and HR policies. To read about the updates to the national Title IX policy, see our article at MediaOCU.com.
Destyni Lietzke, marketing freshman, said she was worried by the statistics of theft on campus.
“For me, it’s kind of scary in one sense because I’m from out of state, so I don’t have anyone close by family-wise. So, if anything happens to my car, it’s going to be harder and really stressful to figure out how to get it fixed because I’m all alone over here,” she said. “Because of that, I try to make it a priority to make sure my door’s always locked and to take all of my prized possessions if I have anything, to keep it of my car. It was something I didn’t think about moving here for school. I didn’t think it would be an issue, but that’s happened a lot, I guess, here.”
Lietzke said it’s important for students to know about the crime statistics on campus.
“That way, we’re educated to know what’s going on so we can take the precautions for it to not happen to us, the students,” she said.
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