Matches for: “stats” …

What is going on with the BOGUS CLERY CRIME STATS reported by the leadership at the Arizona State University Police Department?

Arizona State University is safe right

The Arizona Republic once again produced a story looking into the crime reporting being done at the Arizona State University through CLERY, but there is a problem.

The problem with this is that outsiders can only see finished numbers, not what goes into making a flawed product in the final CLERY report.

Here are a few things not considered when investigating ASU for CLERY reporting.

  1. How many reported rapes, drug crimes, robberies, burglaries, assaults etc are RECLASSIFIED AS OTHER CRIMES in order to keep them from going in the CLERY report? MANY HAVE.

  2. How many crimes are reported to ASU Residential Life in ASU Student Housing and ARE NEVER REPORTED to the ASU Police Department?

  3. Of the crimes that are reported to the ASU Police Department, how many of these CRIMES are sat upon and NOT FORWARDED TO THE Maricopa County Attorney to be evaluated for prosecution?

  4. Of the crimes that are reported to the ASU Police Department, how many of these CRIMES are MISMANAGED BY ASU POLICE DETECTIVES DUE TO AN ACUTE LACK OF EXPERIENCE AND TRAINING and are then NOT FORWARDED TO THE Maricopa County Attorney to be evaluated for prosecution or are dismissed for the lack of followup and accompanying evidence.

  5. When you look at Universities much smaller than ASU, how do they have the same or higher crime statistics? When you look at the crime averages across the United States, it’s impossible for the ASU Stats to be accurate. The Arizona State University Police Department staff compiling the CLERY stats have been lying for many years to the public and Federal government. With the continual exposure of this issue there is complicity all the way up to ASU President Michael Crow, ASU Board of Regents. 

Be sure to check out: https://sundevilsagainstsexualassault.wordpress.com/

Institutions are required to report on crimes such as:

Institutions are required to report on persons referred for campus disciplinary action for:

Institutions are required to report on crimes or bodily harm related to/caused by:

Here is the latest Arizona Republic article on crime reporting at the Arizona State University:

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2016/10/01/asu-ua-clery-report-statistics-crime/91342452/

Arizona State University and the University of Arizona published their annual campus-crime statistics Friday, a federally mandated report that provides insight about crimes that occur within campus boundaries.

Clery statistics include crimes against anyone on campus, not just students, but they exclude virtually all crimes that occur off campus. Most students at Arizona’s three public universities live off campus.

READ THE REPORTS: ASU | UA

At ASU there were 14 reports of rape in 2015, up from 7 in 2014, and two reports of domestic violence, compared with one in 2014. At UA there were 18 reports of rape in 2015, down from 28 reports of rape in 2014, and 19 reports of domestic violence in 2015, compared with 18 in 2014.

Trends at the two universities

The Clery Act requires colleges and universities that get federal funding to publish an annual security report including their crime and fire statistics and their safety and security policies. For context, the reports cover a three-year period.

UA had fewer liquor-law incidents but more drug-law incidents than in 2013 or 2014. It was almost the same at ASU, which in 2015 had the most drug arrests at 325 and fewest alcohol arrests at 314 in its three-year period.

In 2015 both universities had their first hate crime reported in the past three years, all classified as “intimidation incidents.” The two at ASU involved racial bias, and the one at UA involved sexual-orientation bias, according to the schools’ reports.

Sexual-assault reports have been on the rise across Tempe, according to Tempe police stats analyzed earlier this year. The department attributed the increase to a larger national awareness of college sexual assaults.

ASU: More sexual-assault reports reflect positive change

“As ASU has fought to prevent sexual violence and harassment, the university has worked to create an environment in which people feel empowered to seek help,” ASU said in a statement.

“Researchers and advocates emphasize that, as colleges and universities do more to encourage reporting, the number of reports will rise as awareness and trust grow.”

ASU cited a recent survey from the American College Health Association survey which showed that 60.9 percent of ASU students reported they had ever received information from their university about sexual assault and relationship violence, up from 50.1 percent two years ago.

“Those steps mark substantial progress, but we are determined to do more. We find in this year’s crime data ample reason to increase our already aggressive education and awareness efforts, both in terms of mandatory training and support for peer-to-peer advocacy. Our goal is nothing short of a campus where all members of the ASU community feel safe and respected.”

Failings of the Clery Act

In April, The Arizona Republic investigated off-campus crimes near ASU’s Tempe campus and found the number of reported rapes, robberies, aggravated assaults and burglaries would increase dramatically if off-campus crimes were added to Clery stats.

For instance, if the area near the ASU campus in Tempe were included in the school’s crime report:

  • The number of reported rapes/sexual assaults would more than quadruple.
  • Robberies would increase 15-fold.
  • Aggravated assaults would jump more than 20 times.

What is the Clery Act?

The Clery Act is named after Jeanne Clery, a college student who was raped and murdered in her dorm in 1986. It requires colleges and universities that get federal funding to share information about campus crime and their safety and security policies.

Click here to read more about the law.

Experts who have studied the Clery Act say that’s a huge shortcoming of the law: The statistics include some crimes but exclude others based on where the crime occurs.

“It’s the only number that we have, but it is not highly reliable,” said Steven Janosik, an associate professor of higher education at Virginia Tech who has conducted at least eight studies of the Clery Act since 2003.

Parents don’t draw the distinction between on-campus and off-campus crime if their child is the victim, experts said.

Here was a good article on understanding CLERY.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-education/2016/08/12/campus-safety-guide-arizona-state-university-university-arizona-northern-arizona-university-crime-sexual-assault-clery-act-fraternities-sororities/88039260/

ASU POLICE will send you dumb ass advisories like this, while they cannot staff the police department 10 years running without sending out requests for officers to work overtime to cover shift shortages. (AS LOW AS 1, 2, 3 officers on patrol at any campus, some none at all.) ASU will send you advisories like this, while not telling you about DEAD BODIES, ARMED ROBBERIES, RAPES, BURGLARIES…BUT YOU WILL HEAR ABOUT STRAY FOXES AND BEE HIVES that pose a threat to nobody by a person who might have a bee allergy.

Welcome to Arizona State University PoliceArizona state University Michelle rourke

 

Be sure to check out: https://sundevilsagainstsexualassault.wordpress.com/

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Got Fraud? Arizona State University Police Does: this time it’s State Government Grants and M.A.D.D. Misappropriation.

 

Story made possible by the contributions of an anonymous source through the comments section who gave us permission to use the information, but not to publish the comment. 

The command at the Arizona State University Police Department take nothing more seriously than acquiring more additional money for themselves and what the troops have come to call their minions, the cadre of supplicants, “the clique”.  The quickest way to get more money at the Arizona State University Police Department is to ingratiate yourself with those in charge. It doesn’t require experience or competency in the job you’re sworn to do, everywhere else it usually does, but not in the ASUPD. There are Sergeants running around clueless with only one year of university only patrol experience managing officers with 2, 5, 10, 20, and 30 years of patrol experience. Some of these officers even tested against these Sergeants, beat them until it came to the “oral boards” where all other testing scores and resume experience no longer mattered and they lost out on the position. Some of these applicants were highly decorated officers from city departments who put their lives on the line for many years before coming to a whore house masquerading as a state police department.

We are not critics of state support for law enforcement. We are critics of those who undermine the efforts and image of the noble uniformed police officer for their own enrichment at the cost of safety for the communities they are sworn to serve. The Arizona State University Police Department has a sizable budget in the double digits for millions of dollars. It’s further acerbated by the fact the police department’s command seems unable to stop officers (the ones who really work as actual cops) from wanting to leave the department, but receive funding to hire as many officers as possible and convert the line money they receive for the officers they don’t have to what they term as “salary savings”. 

We received some information in the comments section from a anonymous source who did not wish to be published, but said we could use the information provided. We learned that ASU Police Commander Louis Scichilone managed ASU Police overtime for the DUI Taskforce for many years that other police departments co-participate in. While managing the overtime Commander Louis Scichilone would hand pick who worked that overtime detail. In doing so he selected his friends like ASU Police Sergeant Mark Aston, ASU Police Sergeant Pamela Osborne, ASU Sergeant/Commander Christopher Speranza, and others to receive the additional money for these events.

After selecting trusted friends for the DUI Taskforce events, ASU Police Commander Louis Scichilone and these other three officers would ride 4 to a patrol vehicle, make some token stops for stats, but lacked in custody DUI arrests before collecting time and a half overtime pay at the Sergeant rank. Sometimes other officers were included in this scheme, but no other names were given to us. What we don’t know is how many times this scheme was carried out or the dollar amount essentially stolen from government grants and payments from families who lost relatives to drunk drivers. M.A.D.D. We were also told that the Arizona State Police Department was uninvited to participate in D.U.I. Enforcement overtime due to a lack of performance. This grant make sense as a way for the state of Arizona to bolster the tarnished image of the Arizona State University Police Department, but it’s more good money after bad results for the tax payer and the public who could be better served if the troops had adequate leadership with a resemblance of integrity, at least average intelligence, and a modicum of people skills.

The partnership of the ASU Police Department patrolling with the Tempe Police Department in the Safe and Sober program, an effort designed to decrease rowdy off-campus behavior, often saw ASUPD Officers being diverted to assist or take primary on regular ASU Police calls, due to the shortages in staffing that have plagued the department for many years. The off-campus Safe and Sober program succeeded in cleaning up Tempe, but drove the crime back on to the Arizona State University Campus where the lack of patrol units is an open invitation for criminals to shop-without-a-cop in the Arizona State University Crime Spree Zone.

 

Here’s the ASU State Press article on the grants:

http://www.statepress.com/article/2017/02/sppolitics-asu-police-granted-nearly-by-the-governors-office-of-highway-safety

The Governor’s Office of Highway Safety granted the ASU Police Department more than $68,000 for DUI, youth alcohol and selective traffic enforcement.

The grant is split into two parts: $60,000 for DUI and youth alcohol enforcement, which primarily covers overtime pay for officers a part of the task force, and $5,000 to be spent on Portable Breath Test Instruments. 

The department was also awarded $3,080 for Selective Traffic Enforcement, a program focused on adding police to monitor pedestrians and cyclists in the area, according to a press release issued by ASU police on Feb. 10. (AKA Extra money for doing what a police department is supposed to do.)

Commander John Thompson, who oversees Tempe campus patrol operations for the ASU police, said the GOHS has given out grants to local police departments for as long as he’s been an officer.

“This year – in 2016 – we applied for another grant and we were awarded monies that we will use,” Thompson said. “We began utilizing that money over the Christmas holiday season so during pretty much the entire month of December … every weekend and the week leading up to Christmas and the week after Christmas there are ongoing task force efforts almost on a nightly basis.”

Thompson said the department does not ask for a specific amount of money, but simply applies for a grant and the GOHS determines the amount. 

The money allows the department to put more officers on duty during bigger campus events, such as football games.

“This money allows us to bring in officers on overtime and go out and specifically spend their efforts looking for DUIs, people violating DUI laws, and then as well as any other traffic related issues that we might encounter,” Thompson said. “When we have … Devilpalooza in a couple of weekends here we’ll have a couple of officers in.”

Thompson said the grant will help pay for around 11 PBT breathalyzers the department bought recently. (So the money can be spent on lunches for command meetings and special trips for command and their friends in “training”.)

“We already have multiple of those machines that most of our officers do carry, this is just more that we can put in the hands of even more of our officers,” Thompson said.

This year’s grant was approximately $15,000-20,000 more than last year, Thompson said, mainly because the University and department have both grown.

GOHS Director Alberto Gutier said the office is glad to grant this money to several departments and organizations across Arizona. 

Gutier said overall the ASU police does a good job utilizing their grants, which is why they are happy to provide them with money yearly. (So how was this “good job” verified? The state says the state is doing a fine job, not surprising.)

“PBTs are about $500 apiece and that includes mouth pieces that PBTs use,” Gutier said. “We probably provided a thousand plus PBTs the last couple years for agencies around the state. You can buy a very good PBT for $350-400, you add to that shipping and mouthpieces – it’s about $500 so if we give $5,000 it means they can order 10 PBTS.”

The Selective Traffic Enforcement is an effort to educate and inform students on campus the laws of being a pedestrian or a bicyclist, Gutier said. He said new students often don’t know the laws, which can lead to traffic accidents, so the education and warning is better than just giving a ticket.

Gutier said the department gladly provides funding for programs protecting pedestrians and bicyclists because of the rate of pedestrian fatalities in Arizona. 

Daniel Roman, a civil engineering junior, said he has had every experience as a pedestrian that one can imagine.

“I’ve been hit by a long boarder, and I’ve been hit by a car while long boarding,” Roman said. “I was going across the cross walk and the car just didn’t see me.” (You were riding through a crosswalk on a long board instead of dismounting.)

Roman said he thinks education for pedestrians would be good, since many students on campus don’t have any knowledge of the laws of being a pedestrian. (Stop, Caution, Go, Walk, Don’t Walk, Right of Way, simple.)

“I always just figure pedestrians have right of way,” Roman said. “I think it could be valuable to educate students on what they can and can’t do.” (Cars can kill people when they crash into pedestrians.)


Reach the reporter at maatenci@asu.edu or follow @mitchellatencio on Twitter.

Keep the information coming, it’s only going to improve things at ASUPD by making 

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ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY: Do you feel your child would be safe here?

Arizona state University student murdered clery

 

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The “High Noon” email that went out to all Conference Attendees of the International Association of College Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA) hosted by the ASU Police Dept.

Iaclea 2016 conference Arizona state university police

After some requests for the original “high noon” email that had ASUPD command on suicide watch here it is. This was originally posted in comments, but not published in comments. Thank you Ted for joining this growing insurgency for justice by putting together this treasure trove of information we were previously not aware of.

Despite our knowledge of the corrupt inner workings of ASU Police Dept, we were somewhat surprised about the depravity tolerated, protected, and by default sanctioned by the Arizona State University administration.

There will be posts about the inexcusable Arizona State University War on Women!

HERE’S THE EMAIL:
Continue reading

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The Arizona State University Police Department gets ASU in the news again. Ignore problems, they will just go away.

Arizona State University Police Department Administration makes the news again
See the full news video here:
http://www.12news.com/news/local/valley/former-cops-asu-pd-misreported-crime-stats/255643867

TEMPE, Ariz. – For the first time, former Arizona State University police officers have publicly spoken out against their former department, accusing it and the university, of misreporting crime statistics in violation of the Clery Act.

The Clery Act is a federal law that requires colleges and universities to report and publish crime statistics involving their students.

Former ASU police detective Matt Parker said he examined the statistics himself and compared them to the published Clery Act report.

Parker said crimes that are reported to ASU’s administration, but not investigated as crimes, are supposed to be included in the school’s Clery Act data. But he said those reports did not always make it to the police department.

Former Officer William O’Hayer said he was even encouraged to downplay some crimes.

“Maybe lower a felony to a misdemeanor, or something of that nature, yeah,” O’Hayer said. “It’s pretty blatant.”

“That’s the culture there,” former police aide Ben Flynn said. “Just sweep it under the rug — ignore it; it’ll go away.”

“It’s the norm, where they decide what they want to report, what they don’t want to report,” former Sgt. Patrick Murphy said.

Murphy said he was Parker, O’Hayer and Flynn’s supervisor at ASU PD.

All four officers have since left the ASU police force on their own.

They, along with four other officers, are suing the ASU Police Department.

ASU declined to answer questions on camera, but sent a statement that read: “We do not comment on pending litigation, regardless of how unsubstantiated, malicious or meritless it may be.”

The university has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

In 2014 the Department of Education confirmed it was investigating ASU and 55 other schools for possible violations.

Since then ASU has appointed its first full-time Title IX coordinator.

Are you familiar with the ASU Group Sun Devils Against Sexual Assault?

If you are planning to attend or have children planning to attend the Arizona State University it is absolutely a must see for their safety.

https://sundevilsagainstsexualassault.wordpress.com/

Arizona State University Sun Devils Against Sexual Assault because ASU doesnt care

 

 

 

 

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Arizona State University Police Officers are so fed up with CORRUPTION they sue their own police department. 13 News Outlets and Counting.

ASU Police Officers are so fed up with corruption

We are not surprised one bit. We have been acutely aware of many issues of public concern within the Arizona State University Police Department. When the details of this lawsuit are fully known we will find ways to supply any information we are aware of to assist them in their case against these defendants and others not listed. This initial lawsuit appears to be a beginning.

I suspect more will come forward and break the code of silence, despite all the threats against them doing so. Nobody should be afraid of these liars, cowards, bullies, and immoral people.

I would recommend that anyone who has been a employee/victim of the Arizona State University Police Department management to come forward now and here’s how:

In the Courthouse News article, http://www.courthousenews.com/2016/02/22/asu-police-accused-of-faking-crime-stats.htm ,  it mentions the law office managing this case, Dow Law Office, founder David Dow. I looked up the firm: http://dowlawaz.com/ and here is the contact information: http://dowlawaz.com/contact-us/

13 Links to articles on this latest Arizona State University Police Scandal:

1. Ex-ASU officers sue, say they were forced to make school appear safer

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/investigations/2016/02/25/ex-asu-officers-sue-say-they-were-forced-make-school-appear-safer/80860216/

2. ASU Police Accused of Faking Crime Stats

http://www.courthousenews.com/2016/02/22/asu-police-accused-of-faking-crime-stats.htm

3. Six Cops File Suit Against Thier Own Department, Alleging Corruption

https://www.mintpressnews.com/these-cops-are-so-fed-up-with-corruption-theyre-suing-their-own-department/214235/

4. Former ASU cops sue, claim school forced them to make campus appear safer

http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/31332998/former-asu-cops-sue-claim-school-forced-them-to-make-campus-appear-safer

5. THESE COPS ARE SO FED UP WITH CORRUPTION THEY’RE SUING THEIR OWN DEPARTMENT

http://www.infowars.com/these-cops-are-so-fed-up-with-corruption-theyre-suing-their-own-department/

6. Lawsuit claims discrimination, harassment within ASU PD

http://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/arizona-news/97983221-story

7. ASU police accused of faking crime stats

http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/022616_asu_crime/asu-police-accused-faking-crime-stats/

8. Former ASU Police Say School Directed Them to Change Crime Stats

http://www.campussafetymagazine.com/article/former_asu_police_say_school_directed_them_to_change_crime_stats/news

9. EX-ASU POLICE OFFICERS ACCUSE UNIVERSITY OF DOCTORING CRIME STATISTICS

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/ex-asu-police-officers-accuse-university-of-doctoring-crime-statistics-8088937

10. Ex-ASU officers’ lawsuit alleges crime stats were altered

http://www.theeagle.com/news/nation/ex-asu-officers-lawsuit-alleges-crime-stats-were-altered/article_aea02c2d-e2ae-501b-b47a-0b034ed95b8a.html

11. Former ASU cops sue, claim school forced them to make campus appear safer

http://phoenix.suntimes.com/phx-news/7/83/314688/former-asu-cops-sue-claim-school-forced-them-to-make-campus-appear-safer

12. Ex-ASU officers’ lawsuit alleges crime stats were altered

http://nvs24.com/news/us/Ex-ASU-officers-lawsuit-alleges-crime-stats-were-altered-3835378.html

13. Ex-ASU officers’ lawsuit alleges crime stats were altered

http://www.kgun9.com/news/local-news/ex-asu-officers-lawsuit-alleges-crime-stats-were-altered

Perhaps this former lawsuit can shed more light on what’s happening here in this latest lawsuit. Here’s a related article:

Public Disservice: Discrimination, harassment settlements add up for ASU here:

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/investigations/2015/10/15/public-disservice-asu-discrimination-harassment-settlements/73852816/

One of the Defendents in this new Lawsuit, Officer Mark Janda, was named before in a lawsuit involving shoddy report writing, doing absolutely no investigation in a brutal rape case: FYI: He should have been held respinsible in this case: Misfeasance is the inadequate or improper performance of a lawful act. Nonfeasance is the neglect of a duty or the failure to perform a required task. What ASUPD Internal Affair was done on this known “clique” member.

https://sundevilsagainstsexualassault.wordpress.com/tag/mark-janda/

Are there any issues within the official filing that could concern the ACLU?

Here is the link for the Arizona chapter: http://www.acluaz.org/

Arizona State University Police Department

Arizona State University Police Department Austed Chief John Pickens is still employed in a bogus job to pay for his silence. 150,ooo a year for being silent, reports to Morgan Olsen.

Arizona State University Police Department

Arizona State University Police Department Officer Mark Janda has a history of liability with the department, a clique member willing to injure employees targeted by ASUPD command.

 

Arizona State University Police Department

Arizona State University Police Department Sergeant Epps was hurting employees trying to leave, playing into the lack of integrity that has become the bedrock of management within ASUPD.

Arizona State University Police Department

Arizona State University Human Resources Head Kevin Salcido was part of the silence dissent within policy, was aware of many issues, but did nothing about them.

Arizona State University Police Department

Arizona State University falls under ABOR and has allowed illegal and toxic situations to remain at ASUPD for decades.

Arizona State University Police Department

Arizona State University Police Department Sergeant Pamela Osborne, clique member, was known for damaging employees in the Police Officer Field Training Program.  Her lack of integrity has no business in law enforcement.

 

Arizona State University Police Department

Arizona State University VP Morgan Olsen was aware of issues within ASUPD and ignored them.

Arizona State University Police Department

Arizona State University Police Department Commander Orr was a clique founder and defender and hurt other employees. His lack of integrity has no business in law enforcement.

Arizona State University Police Department

Arizona State University Police Department Commander Louis Scichilone has been caught in so many lies it isn’t even funny. He’s a protected clique member. His lack of integrity has no business in law enforcement.

Arizona State University Police Department

Arizona State University Police Department current Chief Michael Thompson is every bit as corrupt as former Chief John Pickens and is an embarrassment to the profession. He continued to protect the clique as it hurt other employees. His lack of integrity has no business in law enforcement.

Arizona State University Police Department

Arizona State University Police Department former Assistant Chief James Hardina, clique member, quickly rose through the ranks on his willingness to act out against the employees who were targeted by ASUPD command. His lack of integrity has no business in law enforcement.

 

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Local media outlets pick up on ASUPD’s Clery issues

From abc15.com:

TEMPE, AZ – Most public universities are required to follow the Clery Act — which states a university must post accurate crime statistics.

The federal law requires universities to ask neighboring police agencies for Clery crime statistics in three separate areas: on-campus, public property (as in streets, sidewalks and parking lots near campus) and non-campus areas.

Attorney Judd Nemiro says, “Non-campus places would be things that are owned and operated by ASU, but not specifically on campus, so things like student run organizations.”

Crimes handled by Arizona State University Police get reported immediately, but the ones that occur near campus don’t always get added because they fall into a grey area.

For example, back in 2010, ASU student Kyleigh Sousa was brutally killed directly across from campus.

The 21-year-old was robbed and then dragged behind a car. However, the robbery started in a private parking lot. Under the Clery Act, it doesn’t have to be included in ASU’s crime report.

ASU’s Annual Fire and Safety handbook says various police departments are “unable to provide a statistical breakdown appropriate for the Clery Act.”

ASU would not go on camera for an interview.
ASU Assistant Police Chief James Hardina said police departments do supply the necessary data.
 
He said it had not been brought to his attention, that the handbook accused police departments of not providing data to ASU.
However ABC15 found a discrepancy. Back in September of 2013, Tempe Police Chief Tom Ryff did question ASU about the inaccuracy of the clause. You can read the correspondence here.

ASU Official Julie Newberg says that clause doesn’t mean the police departments don’t provide the university with information.

“Letters are sent to each of the agencies every year and many of them do respond with the statistics that they can filter out,” said Newberg.

Newberg says it’s because how data is reported differs.

“Cities report data by FBI standards, which is not the same as universities that are asked to report crime data according to the Clery Act,” said Newberg. “Definitions of crimes also differ according to the difference in federal reporting law. That is why the statistical breakdown of city crime data is not appropriate for the Clery Act report.

Newberg says police departments do send them information and ASU filters out what statistics work under the Clery guidelines.

ASU says they provide a third party link to a website to get local statistics for “extra measure since the definitions of what each captures is different,” said Newberg.

Violating the Clery Act could result in losing some federal funding.

We’re happy the local media has decided to probe further into issues surrounding ASU’s Title IX and Clery Act reporting; hopefully this will be the first of many stories the local media does on these issues.

In the video on the abc15.com site, you can see excerpts from emails sent on behalf of Tempe Chief Ryff to ASU Chief Pickens, in which Ryff expressed concern over ASU stating they were not able to appropriately report some crime statistics. It is very concerning when another agency’s Chief has more regard for providing accurate crime statistics than our own Chief does.

Finally, Commander Hardina: you are very much aware of the department’s assertion that it was unable to provide a breakdown in crime statistic information; in addition to the fact that Pickens was discussing this issue with Chief Ryff, we have mentioned this assertion several times on The Integrity Report (and we know you are an avid reader, sir).

In the interiem, standby folks…this article could be the start of something bigger

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Editorial: “Start by Believing” ASUPD is part of the problem!

ASUPD has been in the media spotlight a great deal recently, and this time, it’s for a good reason; ASUPD, in partnership with university officials, have kicked off a campaign called “Start by Believing” to show support for victims of sexual violence. According to the campaign website, the theory behind the slogan is:

…to bring attention to victims of sexual assault, and not revictimize them through disbelief when they report the crime. Disbelief may come from friends, family, nurses, law enforcement or others whom the victim normally would expect to support them….There are many instances that aren’t reported because of fear of being told that someone brought it on themselves. This type of thinking needs to change. We need to start by believing victims of sexual assault when they come forward. It’s traumatic enough.

The article also mentions the “proclamation” signed by Chief Pickens and Michael Crow (which all department employees received a copy of) that shows how committed ASUPD is to serving victims of sexual violence.

While we think the attention given to the issue of sexual violence on campus is much deserved, we can’t help but be struck by the irony of the situation. The sudden emphasis on sexual violence victims comes on the heels of an article we posted on the safety of students on campus under Title IX, as well as an article about how ASUPD omitted or incorrectly reported the number of sex offenses reported under the Clery Act. Let’s also not forget the rash of sex offenses that occurred during ASU’s “Safe and Sober Campaign”, or the increase in ASU’s sex offense numbers that were actually reported to Clery.

If ASUPD is serious about supporting victims of sexual violence, they could start by appropriately reporting sex offenses in the Clery Report, as they are required to do, by law. Omitting or reclassifying sex crimes into lesser offenses (such as assault) not only revictimizes the victim, it is another way of telling the victim “we don’t really believe you”.

Next, to counter the recent increase in sex offenses, Chief Pickens could actually staff and maintain a fully-functioning police department that has the ability to proactively deter crime, instead of punting ASU’s problems to the City of Tempe. Actively participating in the campaigns you sponsor/are involved in such as “Safe and Sober”, DUI Task Force, or the Student Safety Taskforce would work to both deter crime and show the campus community how committed you are to making ASU a safer place.

Finally, if ASUPD is serious about supporting victims of sexual violence, they can give their officers the appropriate training they need to effectively do their jobs. The academy spends very little time on training officers on how to deal with sexual assault reports, and the little bit of training that is retained fades exponentially with time. Allocating resources to the people who will actually be HANDLING sexual violence cases ensure cases are appropriately handled, and is more cost-effective than dealing with civil lawsuits or wasting tax payer dollars by writing a fancy “proclamation”.

No amount of squishy emails or “proclamations” sent to ASU’s students/faculty/staff can make up for the fact that behind the glossy exterior of ASUPD’s new building, new uniforms, new badges is a top-heavy Command staff completely devoid of compassion and integrity. No amount of campaigns that ASUPD “participates” in can cover up the glaring irony that exists within its “proclamation”.

Chief Pickens, you need to “Start by Believing” ASUPD is part of the problem before you can commit to supporting victims of sexual violence.

 

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Why ASUPD is incapable of handing an active shooter scenario

We have made several posts on The Integrity Report about why Arizona State University’s campuses are unsafe, and the issue of handling an active shooter on campus has been a reoccurring topic (click here to view our previous posts about active shooters).

To adequately prepare for a possible active shooter scenario, ASUPD’s approach must be three-pronged: ASUPD needs more officers to be able to respond/manage major situations, ASUPD needs to have a clear/common sense policy, and ASUPD needs to give its officers appropriate training.

Whether or not ASUPD will actually recruit and retain additional officers remains to be seen, but Command staff has known for years that its ability to deal with an active shooter is nonexistent. Several years ago, former Arizona Republic intern Matt Haldane interviewed then-Commander Jim Hardina about active shooters and guns on campus (view the video here). Hardina was unable to articulate what ASUPD’s policy in regards to dealing with an active shooter was!

Here are some excerpts from the interview:

(at :27)

In regards to ASUPD’s policy about active shooters:

Matt Haldane: And does ASU have a specific way of doing that? [referring to handling an active shooter]

Jim Hardina: Well, uh, the police department has a policy and the policy is…you…find the shooter…and…stop them from shooting. And you can’t really say you should do A, B, C, and D, because each situation’s dynamic, so, you know, each, uh…you’ll never have the same situation twice. So basically, the police’s role is to the stop the shooter from shooting, and the public’s role is to put themself (sic) in a position where they’re both safe. And again, you can’t have a specific policy because each situation is uh, different.

In regards to the active shooter training ASUPD’s officers receive:

(at 1:45)

MH: And…we spoke with a former Marine who was suggesting that ASU Police go through the same type of training that um, soliders do, in a combat situation where they’re able to quickly distinguish between a shooter and a bystander. What type of training do police officers receive?

JH: Um, I was in the Marine Corps also, and its a little bit different, what you don’t want is you don’t want police officers training with military tactics because you think soldiers…their job is to attack people and kill people…and that’s what they do. We don’t train police officers with that same kinda mindset clearing buildings, you know, looking to kill people. Um, what we train officers to do is exactly that, identify who’s a threat and who is not a threat, and um, act on the side of not shooting, as opposed to shooting. Police officer’s role is to take the least restrictive amounts to controlling somebody, which, the last resort would be actually killing them.

(So according to Hardina, in an active shooter situation, you shouldn’t be trying to kill the person (threat) who is actively maiming or killing innocent civilians. Interesting.)

Also, according to Hardina, 97% of all campus shootings involve a domestic violence dynamic (3:15); yet according to an FBI report addressing targeted violence at institutions of higher education, only 33.9% of incidents involving a weapon were domestic violence related (and firearms comprised only 54% of weapons used in targeted violence on campus).

So…what is ASUPD’s policy in regards to dealing with an active shooter?

First of all, the policy is titled “Rapid Response and Deployment” PSM 461-03, and it is not specifically limited to an active shooter; it also incorporates active terrorism. The initial officer on scene is responsible for notifying SWAT or hostage negotiators (neither of which ASU has). After a determination is made that tactical intervention is necessary, “available officers shall form a contact team and deployed as trained”. NONE of ASUPD’s officers receive training in forming tactical teams in a rapid response scenario.

Also, “the contact team should wear soft body armor and ballistic helmets and deploy service weapons, patrol rifles, and shotguns
with slug ammunition, if possible. The team should deploy according to departmental training“.

ASUPD’s officers are lucky if their body armor is replaced before it falls apart or expires; the “patrol riles” purchased by the department are currently in the custody of Chief Pickens and the rest of Command staff (who wouldn’t respond to a situation like this). Once again, no member of the department receives ANY departmental training that would adequately prepare them for this scenario.

This policy is not applicable to any member of the department, as NOONE has the proper training that falls in line with this policy (nor does ASUPD have the resources–SWAT, hostage negotiator, rifles–it cites its officers should use). The unofficial policy of dealing with a scenario like this? Call Tempe PD.

What type of training do ASUPD’s officer’s receive to deal with active shooters?

In addition to not receiving tactical ANY training to deal with an active shooter, the only post-academy training ASU’s officers receive is limited to free training ASU provides to all its students, faculty, and staff (check it out here). This video is geared toward  students/employees faced with an active shooter, and does NOT provide any sort of tactical training to a person working in a law enforcement capacity.

As we’ve previously mentioned, it is only a matter of time until ASUPD is forced to deal with an active shooter. The indifference/incompetence allowed to fester on the top level of the department will ultimately come at the expensive of an innocent civilian or a fellow officer.

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ASU misrepresents its crime statistics, violates Clery Act (Part Two)

In our last Clery post, entitled “ASUPD misrepresents its crime statistics, violates Clery Act (Part One)” , we looked at what the Clery Act is, what reporting is required  of universities who are obligated to adhere to Clery, and why the Clery Act is so important. In this second installment, we are going to discuss how exactly ASUPD is misrepresenting its crime statistics (and how that violates the requirements of the Clery Act).

1. ASUPD omits crime stats from specific reporting areas required under the Clery Act

In our previous post about the Clery act, we discussed different areas other than campus ASU is required to provide crime statistics for, namely:

Public Property

  • Public property (All public property, including thoroughfares, streets, sidewalks, and parking facilities, that is within the campus, or immediately adjacent to and accessible from the campus, as well as any public transit stops adjacent to campus).

However, according to page 33 of ASU’s 2013 Annual Security and Crime Safety report, we found this small disclaimer:

Clery public prob

Similarly, on page 34 of the Crime Safety report, we found this disclaimer for West, Poly, Downtown and Lake Havasu campus’ public property reporting:

West poly public

Down Lake Havasu

So essentially, what ASUPD is telling the public via the Crime safety report is that the crime stats on the report do NOT include areas adjacent to ANY campus, nor do they include the crime stats for the EIGHTEEN areas considered “non campus properties”.

ASUPD’s excuse for not including public property crimes is that ASU “is unable to provide a statistical breakdown appropriate for Clery Act reporting” is a weak excuse. The “Handbook for Campus Safety and Security Reporting” requires a university  to show a “good faith” effort to collect crime data from another non-university police agency.

This “disclaimer” about not having statistical data appropriate for Clery reporting is to be utilized when other agencies refuse to release their crime statistics, or  the information provided to the university is unable to be attributed to ANY of the university’s Clery geography (page 103).  ASU IS provided crime stats/information (by Tempe PD) that are able to be broken down to the “public property” level simply by looking at the physical location of the offense; this is the type of work that crime analysts routinely engage in.

ASU is also able to request the crime stats for their non-campus properities by merely providing the address of the property to the appropriate jurisdiction. We reached out to Scottsdale PD, home of Skysong (one of the non-campus property locations) and we were told that ASU contacted them approximately one time to request crime information.

We accessed the database referenced in page 33 of the Crime Safety report to see what crimes ASU may have missed because of its exclusion of public property statistics, and this is what we found for ASU’s Tempe Campus:

Tempe 1

Tempe 2

ASU excluded a significant amount of crimes occurring adjacent to campus (and several that occurred ON campus but were handled by other police agencies) from its Crime Safety Report (go to raidsonline.com and use the date range of August 2012-August 2013 to view the above posted data in a clickable format)

 Non-campus property

These are the non-campus statistics from ASU’s Skysong Campus which are not included on the Tempe non-campus property in the Crime Safety report (cited from raidsonline.com, using the date range of August 2012-August 2013): Note that the campus boundary is marked with a solid blue line, and each of the crimes are circled in red.

Skysong crimes

Note there are five motor vehicle thefts, one sexual assault, and one commercial burglary NOT included in ASU’s Crime Safety Report.

 

2. ASUPD improperly classifies crimes so they don’t meet the criteria for Clery reporting

Sex offenses

Perhaps the most misclassified/reclassified type of crime are those linked to sex offenses. Clery Act has a much more broad definition of what a sex offense is compared to definition used by the UCR (which excludes forcible fondling). Under the Clery Act, there are two types of sex offenses: forcible and non-forcible.

  • Forcible sex offense: Forcible rape, forcible sodomy, sexual assault with an object, forcible fondling.
  • Non-forcible sex offense: Incest, statutory rape.

“Schools can wrongly categorize reports of acquaintance rape or fondling as “non-forcible” sexual offenses — a definition that should only apply to incest and statutory rape”, according to an article by publicintegrity.org.

In August 2007, an ASU student reported being sexually assaulted at the Sigma Chi fraternity house. Subsequent follow-up emails to then Assistant Chief Jay Spradling went unanswered, and the sexual assault was later reclassified. The student alleged that her sexual assault was not investigated by Officer Janda (who documented the assault on a field investigation card) because she was intoxicated. Clery specifically states that a sex offense is presumed to be forcible if the person is incapable of giving consent “due to his or temporary/permanent physical or mental incapacity”.

The woman, who later sued the Arizona Board of Regents for violating Title IX, stated ASU has in recent years systematically and severely underreported sexual assault reports. Her complaint states that in 2008, ASU reported and posted only four forcible sexual assault reports in its 2009 Annual Security Reports, despite, on information and belief, having received at least several dozen reports.

A 2010 State Press article interviewed a counselor who works with sexual assault victims and is closely affiliated with the university and stated, “ASU does not take sexual assault reports seriously enough, creating a climate that keeps victims quiet and crime stats low”.

In 2011, ASUPD arrested a man accused of fondling at least 14 victims on ASU’s campus the previous year. Under the Clery reporting guidelines, forcible fondling is required to be reported as a forcible sex offense. For the year the incidents occurred (2010), ASU reported a mere 6 forcible sex offenses that occurred on campus (see Campus_Security_Policy )

Prevalence of under reporting sexual assaults

USC, UC Berkley, and Occidental College are all major universities currently facing the possibility of sanctions from the Department of Education for failing to properly report the number of sexual assaults on campus.

Robbery

ASU has also reclassified several robberies into felony thefts, which would prevent their inclusion into ASU’s Crime Safety Report. Under the Clery Act, robbery is defined as:

    • Robbery: is the taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person
      or persons by force or threat of force or violence and/or by putting the victim in fear.

ASU has had several strong arm robbery series which occurred on ASU’s campus where the victim was robbed of an IPhone and then dragged by a vehicle; under the Clery Act, these crimes should have been listed as a “robbery”, but they were later reclassified to a “felony theft” or merely “theft”.

3. ASU doesn’t utilize its resources properly

While formal training in the field of statistics and crime analysis is not required for persons preparing the Crime Safety Report under the guidelines specified by the Clery Act, that type of knowledge is useful when tasked with processing a large amount of data in a relatively short period of time. ASUPD has been fortunate to have a crime analyst on board for the past few years, but unfortunately, the analysts’ job has been reduced to producing crime maps for bike thefts on campus.

ASU’s former analyst (who has subsequently left the department for greener pastures) was much more qualified to process and analyze crime data compared to the Commander in charge of Clery reporting (Michele Rourke), who merely possesses a bachelor’s degree in English and has no formal training in statistics

Additionally, with such a large criminal justice undergraduate/graduate program, ASUPD could utilize several unpaid student volunteers or interns to process and catalog crime reports; this is a relatively common practice in larger departments such as Tempe PD.

4. ASU needs stronger partnerships with other agencies

After looking at the various locations where ASU has property/research labs, it is obvious that the university’s footprint is pretty significant. ASU has demonstrated that it does not have the resources, training, or personnel to effectively fulfill its obligations under the Clery Act; ASU needs to form stronger partnerships and more effective ways to communicate with other police departments. Building a rapport with another agency would assist ASU in obtaining the proper crime information necessary for a thorough Crime Safety report, and perhaps allowing ASU to assist that agency in some other area in the future.

 All of this information, especially when coupled with the storm of negative media coverage over ASU’s crime situation, are evidence that ASU’s students/faculty/staff are NOT as safe as the university would lead them to believe. ASUPD knows the magnitude of the crime problems on and around all campuses, but refuses to do anything about it. 

There is no more hiding behind Tempe PD or any other police agencies; the other agencies did not create the staffing shortages, the lack of training, or incentives to stay in the department—you did, Command staff!  ASUPD is unable to fulfill its basic obligation to serve and protect its community. It is now a matter of time before ASU starts losing students (and $$) because of these shocking safety issues.

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