HUPD approached both Security on Campus and Harvard’s Office of Federal Relations several years ago to lobby for the inclusion of larcenies on Clery Act reports “as a more transparent way to accurately portray property crime on campus,” according to HUPD spokesperson Steven G. Catalano.

But Suzanne Day, Harvard’s director of federal relations, wrote in an e-mail that “the crime definitions were not a particular issue for us in Washington.”

Though HUPD advocated for the inclusion of larcenies, the federal government amended the Clery Act to the opposite effect, requiring evidence of unlawful entry for the categorization of burglary.

Despite its advocacy, HUPD complied with the change. The number of on-campus burglaries—which, in 2009, would have been 245 under the previous definition—was reported as 21, in compliance with the new criteria.

The sharp decline provides a narrower portrayal of property crime at Harvard than the previous standard, but Carter, while calling the change ”somewhat troubling,” said that it allows for campus crime definitions to conform to ones used by local police departments.

“I think it’s unfortunate that the numbers are not as inclusive, but it is consistent with the national definition,” Carter said. “So it’s frustrating to us because it’s less inclusive, but at the same time, we recognize that it’s consistent with what every city and town is reporting.”

—Staff writer Sofia E. Groopman can be reached at segroopm@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Naveen N. Srivatsa can be reached at srivatsa@fas.harvard.edu.