Crime stats unclear

Crime statistics are down on campus, according to The Students' Right to Know Report, which was recently released.

The report, which is released once a year shares statistics with the Cal State Long Beach community. Though a valuable tool when deciding whether to enroll at CSULB, the statistics often come too late to inform the general student population.

After all, it is now the ninth week of the semester, and this report was only  released two weeks ago. The real kicker of the report is that crime rates are down.

The truth of the matter is on-campus robberies, sexual and aggravated assaults and burglaries have decreased, but the cases including vehicle theft, drug and alcohol arrests and weapons possessions have increased.

Still have that warm fuzzy feeling? The report stated that sexual assaults were down this year, but just last month a bold mid-day abduction attempt occurred outside The University Library.

Usually those things happen in the dark of night. That's why programs like the campus escort service has really bloomed. But no one thinks to call for an escort in the middle of the day.

More often than not University Police and campus administrators have conveniently neglected to share some of these crimes with the general campus community.

Perhaps this is because they do not want to create a campus-wide panic. Maybe it is because there are too many petty crimes to inform the campus. But there are more serious implications to this.

No one is sure why the University Police and administrators don't like to admit that there are occasionally serious crimes committed on this campus.

Is it better to attend a school that is open about public safety issues and is willing to deal with them or a school that tries to maintain an air of safety by shrouding the truth?