Report details crimes happening on Delta campus

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Two recent crimes at Delta College have left the campus community on edge, but the number of incidents in the past few years is low according to the recently released Clery Report for 2012-13.

An Oct. 9 sexual battery on campus and an Oct. 17 attempted robbery made headlines, causing students, faculty and staff to have concerns about safety.

But the most recent report finds that reported 2012 incidents include one forcible sex offense, six robberies, eight burglaries, 11 motor vehicle thefts, 11 illegal weapon possessions, 18 drug-law violations and four liquor law violations on campus.

“We live in a rough city and the fact of the matter is, despite that our crime stats are extremely low. The malls across the street whether you take them together or individually, they trump us three times over on the amount of crime they have,” said Delta College Police Officer Jim Bock.

Recent reports also show that in 2011 there were 15 drug-law violations, six illegal weapon possessions, six robberies, five burglaries and two motor vehicle thefts reported on campus.

After reviewing the statistics of reported incidents there was a spike in a few categories from 2011 to 2012.

Burglaries went from 5 to 8, motor vehicle thefts jumped from 2 to 11, illegal weapons bounced from 6 to 11, drug law violations skipped from 15 to 18, and liquor law violations increased from one to four.

The district police department has made it more convenient for students, faculty and staff to stay connected with crimes that occur on campus.

“A 24-hour, seven day a week chaperone service is in place for campus police to provide those who want to be escorted to their vehicles but it’s rarely used,” said Bock.

Only 83 calls have been made for a police personal escort since Jan. 1, 2012, he added.

There’s also a mobile app called TipSoft that will allow its users to send crime alerts anonymously online, via a smartphone, or send simple text to “CRIMES” (274637) using the keyword “DELTA” from any cell phone.

“In the last month TipSoft has been used for honest tips probably four times, it’s not used a lot but we would like to see it used a lot,” said Bock.

With TipSoft, students can connect to campus police without the fear of being revealed for reporting improper behavior.

Students should only use TipSoft to alert police about safety concerns and information, involving drug dealing, suspicious activity, and violent acts. By signing up with this service, district police will be able to send out prevention tips that might be helpful for all.

Students at Delta College aren’t using TipSoft as much as campus police would like to see, given that it’s an app that can help with minimizing crime that’s been happening on campus in recent months.

With the service of TipSoft students can participate in keeping the community and campus safe.

There are more than 800 law enforcement agencies and schools, currently using TipSoft throughout the country.

CrimeReports, the provider for TipSoft, creates a user identification which protects the identity of everyone who’s giving information to be reported.

CrimeReports.com has created an easy to operate, and low-priced software for law enforcement agencies to reduce crime and often solve them.