FBI: Benedict College again leads larger S.C. schools in campus violence
Charleston SC Oct 2 2017 Benedict College, a small school in the heart of South Carolina’s capital, has gained notoriety over the past decade as one of the most violent in the country.
More than once, it has claimed the top spot on rankings by organizations that sift through FBI data on violent crime, even though the federal agency cautions against such lists.
The private college’s image problems might continue after the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting program last week recorded Benedict’s highest level of violent crime since at least 2007. Though the school has only 2,500 students, the FBI reported 44 violent crimes there last year, while the state’s 13 other four-year colleges with more than 2,000 students had a combined total of 39.
Coastal Carolina University in Conway had 13, though that school’s president said the number reflects its dogged efforts to detect crime. S.C. State in Orangeburg had nine. Larger schools saw even fewer: the University of South Carolina in Columbia with three and the College of Charleston with none.
But Benedict’s police chief insists that his college’s unfortunate distinction is not deserved. The latest statistics are wrong, the chief said. Experts also pointed out how problematic the FBI report can be.
The nationwide report released Monday tallied 32 robberies, 10 aggravated assaults, one rape and a murder at Benedict last year.
Chief Haywood Bazemore said his police force never handled a killing and incorrectly inflated its five robberies because of a software issue. “It’s basically not possible to have that many violent crimes on a college campus and the flag doesn’t go up,” he said.
Still, the campus agency handled 16 violent crimes, according to the school’s corrected statistics, more than any other campus in the state.
It last recorded a similar high level of 42 violent crimes in 2013, which Bazemore said was also likely wrong. By contrast, in 2012, the campus police handled only three, according to the FBI report for that year.
Bazemore suggested that other schools have unfairly deflated their statistics, making Benedict seem problematic. It’s nearly “impossible,” he said, for such a small school to have more crime than the others.
“Anytime you see zero, zero, zero across the board, they have not done the proper mechanism for accounting for crimes,” he said. “I call decreasing numbers sort of cheating.”
In many places, the FBI reports are known to fall short of accounting for actual crime levels.
The downtown College of Charleston campus, according to the FBI, hasn’t had any violence since 2013.
But that’s likely inaccurate. The FBI’s tally differs drastically from a campus security report that the college is required to release annually under the federal Clery Act. Most recently, the school listed 25 forcible rapes in the past three years, while the FBI’s version says the college hasn’t had a sexual assault since 2012.
Spokesman Mike Robertson said the school, like others, sends its statistics monthly to the State Law Enforcement Division, which forwards them to the FBI.
“We do not directly report any figures to the FBI,” Robertson said.
The 13 largest four-year colleges and universities in South Carolina saw an overall dip in violence, dropping by seven reported crimes from 46 in 2015. USC’s total dipped by four, though S.C. State’s rose by four.
Several factors can be blamed for struggles with crime at a school like Benedict. Its urban setting can cause spillover problems from nearby communities, experts said. Five Points, the nearby nightlife district, has seen its share of shootings and robberies over the years.
“Because an institution is in an urban setting, you’re going to see that type of crime reported,” said Daniel Carter, a college security expert and president of Georgia-based Safety Advisors for Educational Campuses. “To address it, it’s usually a simple matter of having adequate police presence and patrols. There is no secret to it.”
In the school’s most recent annual security report, Bazemore acknowledged the setting as a factor, but he noted that campus crime rates are still lower than surrounding neighborhoods.
Bazemore said his officers have worked with area law agencies to fight crime. Last year, he put two patrol officers on bicycles to give students “an added sense of safety.”
“Our success in maintaining a proactive stance and relatively low crime rate is a reflection of our constant vigilance,” he said in the report.
The FBI data, though, are known for creating only a snapshot of crime. Because only schools with certified law enforcement agencies reported the information, some numbers are missed, Carter said.
That partially gave rise to Clery Act provisions requiring schools to publicly release crime statistics; the annual security reports for 2016 are due this week. Under the law, more college officials — rather than just police officers — participate. Counselors, for example, must file reports after handling sexual assault cases in which the victim doesn’t wish to go to the police.
Amid scrutiny in recent years over their practices, schools nationwide have largely doubled their reporting of sex assaults from 5 percent of all rapes to 10 percent, Carter estimated. Still, he said, campus surveys tend to more thoroughly portray the scope of any problems than the FBI report.
“The FBI data is … very incomplete,” Carter said. “It only captures the numbers that institutions with sworn officers have generally volunteered.”
The FBI reported that Coastal Carolina, with 10,000 students, had six rapes last year, more than any other school in the Palmetto State. S.C. State and Lander universities each had three.
Coastal also topped other schools in 2015, with five rapes in the FBI report compared with three at Clemson University.
In past years, Coastal often reported more instances of violent crime than other schools, but President David DeCenzo said the numbers don’t tell the whole story. His school is aggressive in reporting crimes and detecting them using technology such as cameras and license-plate readers, he said. In line with that mission, the school’s police force responds to crimes off campus, helping other law agencies.
Such cases might otherwise go unreported, he said in a statement.
“No good deed goes unpunished,” he added. “The numbers … on the annual FBI crime report are not a reflection of higher crime rates on our campus, but rather the dogged pursuit of crime that can negatively affect our safe environment.”
While the state’s flagship public school typically sees less violence, property crimes such as burglary and theft are more prevalent at USC in Columbia.
That can be expected at a school with 33,000 students, experts said.
The FBI report showed 314 property crimes on the Columbia campus last year, compared with 236 at Coastal and 209 at Clemson. Only 56 happened at the College of Charleston, which has 11,000 people enrolled.
USC spokesman Jeffrey Stensland said police there do proactive patrols, and students are offered self-defense classes.
“USC is a large campus,” he said, “and while we know crime can never be completely eliminated, the safety of our students, faculty and staff is a top priority for us.”
PostandCourier
