Burglaries on the Tempe campus nearly doubled in 2018, according to ASU's annual crime statistics report, which was published by the University Tuesday, one of the few crimes that increased this year.
The report, which is nearly 100 pages shorter than the 2018 report, shows that overall reported crimes across all of ASU's campuses have been on the decline for at least the past three years.
The 2019 report analyzes crimes that took place in 2018.
Reported crimes dropped from over 1,800 in 2017 to just over 1,350 in 2018 across ASU's campuses.
On the Tempe campus, there were just over 1,200 reported incidents from 2018, down nearly 400 crimes from 2017, which had about 1,600 reported crimes.
Notably, there was a significant decrease in drug and alcohol related arrests on the Tempe campus from 2017 to 2018.
“ASU continues to make progress each year as we battle complex social problems such as sexual assault, sexual harassment, and drug and alcohol abuse,” said Morgan R. Olsen, ASU executive vice president, treasurer and chief financial officer, in an email announcing the report. “ASU remains devoted to prevention and education strategies while making resources readily available to those who are affected by these problems.”
Olsen's statement about the report was the same as the 2018 report.
Violent Crimes
ASU’s Tempe campus had a slight decrease in violent crimes last year. Specifically, there were 10 reported cases of on-campus rape, two fewer than in 2017.
There were five reports of aggravated assault on Tempe campus, one more than reported in 2017.
There was a drop in rape reports on the Polytechnic campus. There were zero cases of on-campus rape, five fewer than in 2017.
There was an increase in rape reports on the Downtown Phoenix campus by one case, from three reports in 2017 to four reports in 2018.
Rape reports remained the same on the West campus, with one reported incident each year.
There were also 13 cases of fondling in 2018 throughout the campuses, a decrease from last year's 18 reports.
There were no manslaughter or murder cases on any of the campuses, which is the same as the last three years.
Theft
Reported burglaries on the Tempe campus nearly doubled, increasing from 22 reports in 2017 to 41 reports in 2018.
Reported burglaries and robberies in Downtown Phoenix, Polytechnic and West campuses all declined or remained at zero. However, reported robberies on the Tempe campus increased from three reports to five reports.
There was a decline in motor vehicle thefts across all campuses, with the exception of campuses that remained at no prior motor vehicle theft reports in 2017.
Domestic Violence, Dating Violence and Stalking
On the Tempe campus, there were 20 stalking incidents, two more reported incidents than in 2017. There was a significant increase in reported dating incidents on the Tempe campus, jumping from eight in 2017 to 15 in 2018. There were four incidents of domestic violence.
Among the other three main campuses, there were three incidents of stalking, one incident of dating violence and three incidents of domestic violence in 2018. All reported cases of domestic violence in 2018 occurred on the Polytechnic campus.
Drugs and Alcohol
On the Tempe campus, there were 186 drug arrests in 2018, down from 256 in 2017 and 301 in 2016. There were 160 alcohol arrests last year, a significant drop from 262 the year prior. In 2018, there were 608 alcohol referrals and 136 drug referrals, down from 738 alcohol referrals and 227 drug referrals in 2017.
Like prior years, drug and alcohol arrests on the Downtown Phoenix, Polytechnic, West, Lake Havasu and Thunderbird campuses paled in comparison to Tempe’s statistics. At the Downtown Phoenix campus, for example, there were 16 drug arrests and five alcohol arrests.
Other Notable Statistics
There were no hate crimes reported on any campus this year.
The ASU Barrett & O’Connor Washington Center campus and ASU California Center campus have been added to the Clery report for 2019. There were no reported crimes in 2018 for either campus.
At the Thunderbird campus, there were no reported crimes in 2018.
There was only one incident at the Lake Havasu campus in 2018 — an alcohol arrest — which is identical to the report from 2017.
Polytechnic was the only campus with weapon law referrals in 2018, totaling two.
The ASU Police Department encourages all community members to report crimes. Anonymous reporting is available through the ASU Hotline at 877-786-3385.
ASU also makes available counseling and other resources for community members who are victims of sexual violence, domestic abuse or similar crimes.
Reach the reporter at eborst@asu.edu and follow @ellieeborstt on Twitter.
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Ellie Borst is the executive editor of The State Press, overseeing the publication and its four departments: online, magazine, multimedia and engagement. She plans to graduate in May 2022 with her master's in legal studies and got her bachelor's in journalism in 2021. Previous roles she has held since joining SP in 2018 include digital managing editor, magazine managing editor, community and culture desk editor, and arts and culture reporter.
