Crime on Harvard's grounds dropped more than 21 percent in 1998, according to statistics released by the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD).
What the department calls "crimes to persons," including assaults, robbery, and pick-pocketing, declined 3 percent.
"Crimes to property," including larceny, theft, trespassing and vandalism was down more than 24 percent.
HUPD Chief Francis D. "Bud" Riley credits the drop to recent community policing initiatives. Riley has appointed a top lieutenant, William K. Donaldson, to focus full-time on such initiatives.
Community policing has been an important theme through Riley's three-year tenure as chief. It aims to build trust between students, faculty and staff and HUPD officers, according to Riley.
Concretely, this has meant having officers speak to students in the Houses, work more closely with House staff. In addition, three HUPD substations--one in the Radcliffe Quad, one in the Yard and one in Quincy House--give officers a permanent place in the House system.
Since these policies were implemented, HUPD has seen a decrease in actual crime and increase in reports of "suspicious behavior"--meaning essentially that crime is often stopped before it starts.
"I'd like to think it's because of the increase in the presence of officers in the Houses," Riley says.
Bike thefts, which has long been the most numerous crime on campus, dropped 30 % last year. There were 226 bikes stolen in 1997, as compared with 158 in 1998.
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