UTRGV’s Police Department released its Annual Security and Fire Safety Report 2019 on Sept. 27 to all students, faculty and staff.
Chief of Police Raul Munguia said the report is required by the Department of Education before Oct. 1 of every year, disclosing the statistics on crimes reported and anything related to fires to assess the overall safety of the university’s campus.
The report contains crime and fire statistics for the three previous years: 2016, 2017 and 2018. The crimes reported in the report took place “on campus, in certain off-campus buildings or property owned/controlled by UTRGV and on public property within or immediate adjacent to and accessible from the campus” according to an email sent out by UTRGV police.
“We also have to reach out to each law enforcement entity around each campus that may have taken a report,” Munguia said. “And we have to ask them for any police reports that were taken during the past year … it’s a very time-consuming process in that we try to make sure we capture the accurate amount of times the crimes were committed. Also, we do not double-count reported crimes.”
According to the Annual Security and Fire Safety Report, reported burglaries decreased from 18 reports in 2017 to zero in 2018 on the Edinburg campus, and one report to zero on the Brownsville campus.
Munguia said as far as burglaries go, it is a serial crime, however campus police have altered their patrol technique which in the past was heavily reliant on patrol cars.
“We looked at a survey that was done by the students, and one of the things that they mentioned was that they never see our police officers,” he said. “And so, we started looking at that a little bit closer, and one of the things is that they’re always in the patrol car and the way the streets are designed, the campus, that means they’re on the perimeter of the campus. So, in order to address that comment they made that they never see us, we actually instituted foot patrols, a lot more foot patrols and bike patrols.”
Munguia said with the increase of officers in the inner core of the campus, the mere presence can actually deter some crime. He said they also have extra officers on patrol when the campus is at its busiest.
On the Edinburg campus, reports of rape on campus increased from zero to two in 2018 compared to the Brownsville campus, which decreased from one report to zero.
There was one reported hate crime in 2018 and the year before on the Edinburg campus, where, in both instances, vandalism transpired.
On the Brownsville campus, liquor law violations referred for disciplinary action doubled in 2018, increasing from 7 to 15 reports. However, liquor law arrests went down from 18 reports on campus to 11.
“That’s another one that they kind of go up and down,” Munguia said. “A lot of it is actually how active the [resident assistants] are. That gets reported by the RA.”
He said this type of crime isn’t a huge problem, but it does happen and the police department does take active measures.
Munguia said a couple of precautions students should take to try to avoid crime would be to make sure their apartments and vehicles are locked, put any valuables out of sight and to try to move in groups at night or utilize their safe walk program, the CampusShield app.
He said there are officers and public safety officers on campus 24/7, even on holidays.
“Fortunately, here, we have one of the safest campuses in the nation,” said Munguia. “And we report everything as it is and we follow their definitions and we are very transparent with what’s occurring on our campuses.”
Alyssa Hernandez, a philosophy junior, said the report was a good thing since it gives students “a set data report” in terms of how safe they are on campus.
Asked about her thoughts on the decrease of burglaries on campus, Hernandez replied, “I think that’s a really good thing because it ensures the students that they have safety and can trust the school with things they put in their cars.”
According to homesnacks.net, UTRGV ranks No. 1 in safest colleges in Texas.
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