Auburn University releases annual security report
Auburn AL October 5 2021
Auburn University released its Annual Security and Fire Safety Report on Oct. 1, a collection of reported crimes on the University’s campus in 2020. Fewer crimes were committed on Auburn’s campus for most major offenses in 2020 compared to the previous year, according to the report.
Each year, Auburn and all other higher education institutions are required to publish this report under the Clery Act, a federal law passed in 1992. These reports show the number of crimes that were committed in the University’s “Clery geography,” the property owned or otherwise recognized by the University — including campus buildings, student housing, fraternity houses and public streets on or adjacent to campus.
The Clery Act has idiosyncrasies to it: if multiple crimes occur during the same incident, they generally aren’t all counted, except for sex offenses, which are counted in every occurrence and are lumped into very broad categories, either rape, fondling, incest or statutory rape. Crimes are also defined differently than under state law. Still, the report does provide a picture of what Auburn’s campus was like last year.
There were several offenses for which no crimes were reported in 2020: murder, manslaughter, incest, statutory rape and dating violence. Since none of these offenses were reported in 2018 or 2019 either, with the exception of a murder/non-negligent manslaughter in 2018, they do not appear in the graph below. The reason no cases of dating violence appear is a matter of how the Clery Act intersects with state law.
See the full report HERE
