Fewer students living in the University area had their property stolen or destroyed last year, according to figures released by the Eugene Police Department.
Property crime in the University neighborhood dropped in nearly every category between the 2002-03 and 2003-04 school years.
The largest drops were in theft, fraud and vandalism with drops of 320 counts, 120 counts and 124 counts, respectively. There were also drops in the numbers of arsons, forgeries and burglaries.
Eugene Police spokeswoman Kerry Delf said that, despite the drop, students need to be on the lookout for fraud in the form of identity theft.
“Around the city it’s one of the fastest-growing crimes,” Delf said.
Delf suggested students shred bills and receipts if they contain financial information, adding that students should never leave a wallet or purse in the car.
“We have crooks breaking into cars specifically to find information to commit identity theft,” Delf said.
Certain criminals have even been known to target students specifically with credit card and financial aid scams.
Department of Public Safety Director Thomas Hicks said there were three incidents of attempted identity theft reported on campus last year.
Hicks said identity theft often occurs
after a wallet or purse is stolen. Thieves use the documents inside to impersonate their victim.
The only property crime to increase last year was car theft, up 64 counts. Delf said those figures are not unique to the University area and that car theft is up all over the city.
Delf said the increase in car theft might be tied to the drop in both jail time and prosecution in Eugene but that 64 car thefts do not necessarily mean a significant increase in the number of car thieves.
“Sometimes it’s a case of nabbing one person,” said Delf. “One person can do a lot of damage.”
Over the same time period, personal crimes such as robbery, rape and other sexual offenses went up, though not significantly. Aggravated and simple assaults were down in the campus area.
Hicks said campus statistics indicate that rape and sexual assault are rising. Hicks said the University is working to discover if more assaults are occurring or if more of them are being reported. Many sexual assaults go unreported, Hicks said.
Behavior crimes such as liquor and drug violations were fairly stable last year with only minor fluctuations. Drug abuse and liquor violations were both down slightly last year while, DUIIs and
disorderly conduct went up.
“None of those numbers are going to be changing in a significant way,” Delf said.
Hicks said the number of drug and alcohol incidents on campus were down last year. Hicks said DPS will continue to work closely with the substance abuse prevention team to keep the number of substance abuse incidents under control. Hicks said this will also help keep other crime numbers down.
“Much of our crime is alcohol-
related,” he said.
Hicks also said that DPS officers will meet with freshmen during the Week of Welcome to offer them suggestions about how to stay safe on campus. Hicks said officers will encourage students not to leave their property unattended and to be aware of their surroundings, especially at night.
Delf said there would be no
special programs starting in the
fall in the University area, though the party patrol would probably
return to the West University neighborhood. Delf said, on
the whole, community policing
in West University had been
working well.
Delf said EPD will deal with problems in the campus area as they arise.

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