A more secure campus?

It's hard to argue with numbers, and this year, numbers have been kind to the Homewood Security Department.

Two years after the University was faced with revamping its safety measures following the tragic murders of two students, the Security Department should be congratulated for an impressive downswing in crime -- in 2005, the number of reported incidents dropped 60 percent from the previous year.

This decrease sounds more drastic than it actually is in the broader context of previous annual crime patterns. The unusually high crime rate in 2004 (with 704 reported incidents) translated into a significant drop when those numbers dipped to 275 incidents last year. The latest crime rate may simply be a fluctuation in numbers that more resembles the rates preceding 2004.

Nonetheless, the data is strong enough to indicate that changes in Hopkins security has indeed made a difference.

Much of the credit goes to the University's dramatic and long-overdue improvement in campus security over the past two years.

In response to the concerns that arose after the violent deaths of junior Christopher Elser in 2004 and senior Linda Trinh in 2005, the University added $2 million to its annual security budget and undertook a series of widespread changes which included adding security gates to the AMRs, upgrading daily patrols and installing a state-of-the-art surveillance system. The additional funding was an important gesture toward the need for change in campus security and spurred a period of transition during which administrators and security officials admirably took many suggestions from the student body and community.

Of course the overall effects of these security modifications will be fully evident over a longer time span, and a wider range of data should figure into evaluations of campus safety and security. But that the department's changes had immediate effects on the crime rate should encourage a sense of optimism regarding the future of campus security.

Despite the positive numbers, there is still more work to be done. Off-campus crime remains a concern for students, particularly those who live in off-campus apartments and houses -- a significant aspect of student safety that the security department's annual report neglects to cover. When nearly half the student body lives off-campus, these statistics should be added to the annual report to illustrate a more accurate picture of student safety on and off campus. A recent spate of break-ins on University Parkway, for example, demonstrates that the problem of off-campus crime persists.

The University should better inform students of a little-known service offered by the Security Department. Officers can assess the quality of security measures at any off-campus residence. This will allow students to more effectively protect themselves.