“I think that’s been unfortunately a terrible problem for as long as I can remember,” Baumgartner said. “And yet, people didn’t used to talk about it.”
According to the University’s 2011 Annual Security and Fire Safety Report, six forcible sex offenses took place on campus in 2009. In the 2019 Security Report, 26 cases of rape and nine instances of forcible fondling were reported for the previous year.
Baumgartner said it is difficult to know whether the risk of sexual assault has increased over the past decade or whether the increase can be attributed to a newfound willingness to report these incidents.
“We just never know,” he said. “There’s so many ambiguities about counting up cases. I feel like the vast majority of the change is that people are talking about it more.”
Brian Curran, former chief of police for the Town of Chapel Hill, agreed that the recent increase in documented incidents might be due to a lack of reported cases earlier in the decade.
“One of the things that most people in law enforcement are aware of is that a lot of crime goes underreported,” Curran said. “Especially sexual assault. I think that has come out most recently at UNC.”
An increased willingness to report crimes and discuss safety concerns is something that David Perry, assistant vice chancellor and chief of UNC Police, has observed on several college campuses.
Perry said that while crime trends on college campuses have not changed drastically over the past 10 years, there has been a major push for students and community members to report crimes and engage in dialogue about safety.
“What we have seen is maybe a refocus for citizens and students and employees to report crime, and really buy into the notion that really was pushed forward after 9/11,” Perry said. “And that’s ‘See something, say something.’”
Policing and the community
Another significant change has unfolded at the University in regards to campus crime and public safety, Baumgartner said.
“There’s been a transformation in how communities talk about their relations with the police and how they understand policing,” he said.
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Curran said the community’s relationship with the police has evolved since his time in law enforcement and, as a result, so have the demands and expectations of police officers.
“I think it’s harder to be a police officer now than when I was there, just because of the added scrutiny," Curran said. "When I first came up, there was a presumption that if there was a dispute between a police officer and someone else, most people would assume that the officer knew was he was doing. I don’t know that that presumption exists anymore.”
That lack of trust helped lead to the creation of the Campus Safety Commission in 2019. The purpose of the Commission is to "take a broad look at all aspects of community safety, including the need to build stronger relationships and communication between our campus community and campus police," according to an April message from interim Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz.
Perry, who was appointed in August, said mending the perceived breach in trust between the community and law enforcement is one of the police department’s main goals.
“My biggest priority is reestablishing trust and confidence in the campus community — that we are here to be a partner in everything that goes on in the campus environment and to support the chancellor’s overarching missions and goals,” Perry said.
Though the relationship between police officers and the campus community may have evolved over the past decade, Perry said that protocols have not changed much. However, he said that that officers have become more mindful and aware of the multiple resources that are now available to them.
“Technology has definitely had a positive impact on disseminating information timely, making information accessible," Perry said. "Tutorials, videos, crime prevention aid, apps — all of those things have evolved over the last ten years to have a positive impact on safety."
On-campus safety today
Curran said that, as chief of police, the biggest threats he perceived to students’ safety were property crimes. He said students, especially those living off-campus, were often unaware of the risks of such crimes.
“So, they were just wandering around in a little security bubble, just unaware that there could be bad things going on around them,” Curran said.
Perry said the greatest threat he perceives to campus safety currently are individuals who give no pre-indicators of attack, or 'lone wolves.'
But another threat may be those individuals who are unaware of how to report information that could prevent a tragic incident.
"I think one of the biggest concerns or vulnerabilities would just be an uninformed member of the campus community," Perry said. "To not know what to do, to not know resources, to not beware of their responsibility in a way to provide information in a way that could prevent a tragedy from happening.”
In comparison to other universities, Perry said that he doesn’t see anything specifically concerning at UNC.
“For the most part, students feel safe,” Perry said.
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