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Introduction. Campus Crime IssuesCrime
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1. “Dedensifying” Urban Neighborhoods john a. powell
Williams Chair in Civil Rights & Civil Liberties, Moritz College of Law
Director, Kirwan Institute of Race and Ethnicity
The Ohio State University
http://www.kirwaninstitute.org/
2. Introduction Campus Crime Issues
Crime & Safety at OSU
Concentrated Poverty & Neighborhood Dynamics Impacting Crime
Potential Solutions
Innovative Programs
Positive Initiatives
3. Campus Crime Issues Research has shown urban college campuses have higher crime rates for all types of crime (rape, assault, robbery, burglary, motor vehicle theft and larceny)
Urban universities face unique challenges because of the changes impacting urban areas
Many urban universities are surrounded by aging urban neighborhoods that have experienced significant decline
“Fractured Policing”
Coordination between multiple police departments (university & city) is difficult and can lead to inefficiencies
Many Urban Universities face this problem including:
Columbia, University of Chicago, John Hopkins, Wayne State, Wisconsin at Milwaukee, Notre Dame
4. Campus Crime Issues Preventing crimes against or perpetrated by students in off-campus settings must be the next step in campus crime prevention – not only at the Ohio State University, but also at colleges and universities throughout the United States.
In the last five years, researchers have been paying closer attention to crimes involving students that take place off-campus.
“Such a high percentage of student-oriented crime takes place off-campus that any crime reduction strategies must take this into account.” (Schwartz, 2001)
1] Schwartz, Michael. “Campus Crime (To Include Violent or Dangerous Hazing),” in the Encyclopedia of Criminology and Deviant Behavior. Bryant, Clifton D (Ed). Volume 2 pp. 54-56. 2001.
5. Crime and Safety at OSU Safety for the OSU community is not only impacted by crime on campus but by criminal activity “off campus” as well. The vast majority of crime occurs off-campus
241 On-Campus crimes were reported at OSU in 2002
More than 8,000 crimes were reported in the surrounding University District in 2002
6. OSU University District The University District is the primary geographic area representing the off-campus community for OSU
The district runs east to the Conrail Tracks, west to the Olentangy River, south to 5th Avenue and north to the Glen Echo Ravine
The University District overlaps with three police precincts and contains 12 patrol car zones
7. Characteristics of Off-Campus Crime at OSU
8. Trends for Major Offenses Off-Campus
9. Is Crime Off-Campus Worse than the City as a Whole?
10. Crime Off-Campus Relative to the City The higher rates of crime in the University District are troubling indicators
Research has found crime in areas around most college campuses to not be significantly higher than rate of crime in the surrounding city
Crime around OSU would be an anomaly in respect to this trend
11. Where isOff-Campus Crime? Analysis of Crime Rates in 2002, indicate crime is concentrated in the eastern and southeastern portion of the University District
12. Where isOff-Campus Crime? Analysis of Crime Rates in 2002, indicate violent crime is concentrated in the southeast portion of the University District
13. Concentrated Poverty:
14. Concentrated Poverty: Quantitative definition of concentrated poverty is an area with 40 percent or more of its residents having incomes below the federally defined poverty line.
Nearly 85 percent of high-poverty neighborhoods are located in metropolitan areas
Residents of high poverty areas are mostly minority
Nearly all of the increases in the number of the poor in high-poverty neighborhoods has occurred in central cities and inner-ring suburbs
15. Causes of Concentrated Poverty Racial and economic segregation of low income housing
Political fragmentation
Urban sprawl
Housing policy & practices
Lopsided wealth creation opportunities
Inequitable educational resources
16. Consequences of Concentrated Poverty Studies have shown concentrated poverty to have adverse effects on many facets of life, some of these include:
Employment
Education
Health
Criminal Behavior
19. Factors Impacting Safety in the University District Public safety in the University District is impacted by multiple factors.
Poor/Unsafe Physical Design
Urban University Setting
Proximity to Concentrated Poverty
The synergy created by conditions around the University intensifies public safety problems.
20. Potential Solutions – Physical Design Physical design solutions can enhance safety in urban areas
CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design), focuses on redesigning areas to eliminate physical characteristics of the built environment that impact the vulnerability of residents to crime.
21. Potential Solutions – Physical Design Key Principles
Create Defensible Space
Improve natural surveillance
Enhance territoriality
Other Theories (broken windows, incivility)
Improve Neighborhood Appearance
Urban blight, vandalism, litter and graffiti impacts public safety
decreases pedestrian activity
increases fear in the general population
indicates vulnerability to crime to perpetrators
22. Urban Blight in the OSU University District
23. Poor design
Trash & litter
Graffiti
Source: City & Regional Planning 852 Students, “University District Code Enforcement: An Assessment and Recommendations for Improvement” (2003)
24. Potential Solutions – Physical Design Implementation
Easiest and most cost effective during new construction
Easier in institutional settings with absolute control over design (e.g. University Campus)
More difficult in existing dense urban areas
Limited new construction or renovation, fragmented property ownership
Challenges can be met by implementing small projects in high priority areas
25. Physical Design – CPTED Examples Improve natural surveillance by adding windows and additional lighting
26. Physical Design – CPTED Examples Improving visibility of potentially dangerous locations (ex. Glass stairwell for enhanced surveillance.)
OSU example, glass elevator in Tuttle Parking Garage
27. Physical Design – CPTED Examples Improving the physical environment to enhance sense of order, security and safety
28. Physical Design – CPTED Examples Improving the physical environment, cleaning up garbage, fixing broken windows, better housing and health code enforcement
29. Physical Design – CPTED Examples Using Barriers to Define Urban Neighborhoods and Slow Drug Traffic in Dayton, Ohio
Note: Two of these closures have been implemented in the University District
30. Physical Design – CPTED Examples Also includes traffic calming initiatives and less invasive barriers such as speed bumps
31. Potential Solutions – Law Enforcement Technological Initiatives
Extensive use of cameras for surveillance
Mapping technology for crime analysis
Will be underway soon for OSU Police
Currently conducted by the Strategic Response Bureau with the City of Columbus Police
Enforcement Initiatives
Community policing
Citizen patrols, police liaisons for citizen groups
Programs to improve coordination and collaboration between university and city police
32. Potential Solutions – Social Initiatives to disperse concentrated poverty
Primarily through de-concentrating subsidized housing
Requires a delicate balance – some initiatives have only displaced concentrated poverty to new areas
(to poor suburbs or other urban neighborhoods)
Opportunity based housing: programs should only disperse impoverished residents to areas of “opportunity”
Reduce absentee landlords, improve rates of homeownership
In 2000, renter occupied housing accounted for 88% of housing in the University District. For the City of Columbus, renter occupied housing represents 51% of all housing. (Source: CURA)
33. Innovative Programs Physical Design and CPTED
CPTED surveys conducted by University police for Off-Campus Student Housing – Indiana University
Programs to certify off-campus housing as CPTED safe – University of Illinois; Savannah College of Art & Design
Grants and low interest loans to private property owners for CPTED improvements in targeted areas – University United/St. Paul, MN
Various Communities – CPTED inspired zoning
34. Innovative Programs Police and Law Enforcement
Extensive use of surveillance cameras – Cardiff University & University of Pennsylvania
Personal electronic security alarms for students – Bridgeport University
Strategic placement of city and university police in high pedestrian areas to prevent robbery at night – University of Delaware
35. Positive Initiatives at OSU Ohio State University
CPTED principles strongly enforced in designs on the OSU campus
All new developments reviewed for CPTED principles
Extensive lighting initiatives for campus areas
Momentum building for better coordination with University Police and City Police
Example: Combined city/university police patrols for burglary prevention in the University District during holidays
36. Positive Initiatives in the University District Campus Partners
The gateway development
Opportunity to implement CPTED principles within a highly developed urban area
Potential special improvement district for the High Street corridor
Provides a source of funding to improve the physical condition of the area, remove litter and graffiti
Needs to be coupled with better code enforcement throughout the district
37. Positive Initiatives in the University District
Homeowner subsidy program for OSU employees in the University District
Potential to increase homeownership in an area dominated by rental housing
Plans to disperse some of the high concentrations of subsidized section 8 housing found in the University District
Potential to de-concentrate poverty (requires delicate balance)
38. Recommendations for OSU
39. Final Thoughts The problem can be managed but there is no “silver bullet”
Need for more information and sustained commitment from various stakeholders