FSU Crime vs. Allegany Crime

By Mike Hurst

A very timely topic right now is crime at Frostburg State University.  After the recent stabbing off campus, comments were made by the Frostburg City Police Chief that infuriated many people.  Chief Royce Douty said in a Cumberland Times-News article that “Nearly all of our calls are college related.” 

In a response to what seems to be a division between FSU and the community, Mayor Flanigan had a letter in the Times-News published.  In this letter it appears as if the mayor wanted to distance away from the comments made by Douty.  Flanigan said, “The Frostburg community is not just the university or just the city, but it is in fact a single entity. Any action that is hurtful to either the city or the university has an equally negative impact on the other.”

These comments by Chief Douty inspired me to find crime statistics for FSU and Allegany County.  The statistics for Allegany County were found at the Governor’s website.  When looking for crime numbers for FSU, the Clery Act showed up and it was what let me college crime numbers.

The Clery Act is named after Jeanne Clery.  Clery was raped and murdered as a freshman at Lehigh University in 1986.  Before attending Lehigh, Clery’s parents had no idea that there had been 36 violent crimes at Lehigh the previous year.  In light of this the act was created, originally as the Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act.  Any college or university that receives financial aid falls under the Clery Act and is required to record and report security and crime numbers that are monitored by the Department of Education.

The Clery Act numbers are what I examined for FSU, and I compared those numbers to universities of similar size and cost, Salisbury and Bowie State.

 

These numbers show that FSU, along with the other universities, have very low violent crime numbers.  They also show that FSU’s numbers for violent crime are no higher than other similar schools.

 

These numbers show that FSU has a significantly higher number of arrests for both drug and liquor violations.  However, this could be due to the crackdown that has taken place since the arrival of Dr. Gibralter.  However, these numbers are higher than other universities and that could support the statement made by Chief Douty.  But it is also important to look at crime numbers for Allegany County.

Crime rates in Maryland are down in almost all categories.  21 of 24 Maryland counties have a lower crime rate per 100,000 people than in 1975 when record keeping started.  Unfortunately, Allegany County is one of the three counties that have seen a rise in crime.  In 2010, Allegany saw a yearly 10.7% increase in crimes with 3,958 crimes per 100,000 people.  That number also represents a 1/3 increase from 1975.  One of the biggest increases in crime rates for Allegany is the property crime rate, which has risen 12.7% from 2009 to 2010.  Some probable reasons for this increase in crime are Allegany’s poverty rate, which is the third highest in the state and their median income, which is the second lowest in the state.

Another factor could be Allegany’s unemployment rate of 8.8 percent, which is significantly higher than the states 7.2 percent unemployment rate.

 

This chart shows the low numbers across the board for Maryland crime rates.

 

 

These numbers are alarming for Allegany County and show the overall crime increase in the last year of 10.7 percent.

(per 100,000)	Allegany	Baltimore City	Baltimore County
Violent Crime	429	1,461	545
Property Crime	3,259	4,484	3,024

These numbers show that Allegany is not that far off from Baltimore City and County, especially when it comes to property crime rates.

In conclusion, I would have to say that Chief Douty’s comments were taken somewhat out of context.  However, he needs to realize that there are many other problems in Allegany County.  Many of these crime problems are due to a bad economy.  Now, Frostburg must take this into consideration because without FSU where would the town of Frostburg be?  The mayor had it right when he said that the town and the university are one, and that what affects one will affect the other.  Chief Douty along with the rest of the community should understand that every college has its problems, and they should not let a few isolated incidents ruin the entire reputation of FSU.  That being said, pointing fingers certainly is not the answer and Chief Douty might want to think twice before he does that again.