On Friday Oct. 1, the SMU Police Department released its annual security and fire safety report that showed drug violation arrests, liquor law violation arrests and forcible sex offenses are up on the main campus and its surrounding area since 2007. The report covers SMU’s main campus, the SMU-in-Plano campus and the SMU-in-Taos campus. It is published every year in agreement with the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act.

The report is thorough with its descriptions and is organized into a number of categories that include campus security, several campus policies and various ways of notifications.

Most students and faculty will be impressed with the easy to read chart that reports the criminal incidents within the immediate area of each of the three campuses over the past three years.

From 2007 to 2009, none of the three campuses reported murder, manslaughter or non-forcible sex offenses. The only criminal reports for the SMU-in-Plano campus entail one motor vehicle theft and one drug violation arrest, both of which occurred in 2008 on public property.

Limited crime was also reported on the SMU-in-Taos campus.

Burglary occurred two times on campus, once in 2008 and 2009, and a number of judicial referrals were reported for liquor law, drug and weapon violations from 2008 to 2009.

Most of the reported crime comes from the main campus. From 2008 there has been a decrease in reported arson, weapons violation arrests and burglary (by one incident).

New additions to the 2009 report include a missing student policy and notification, an annual fire safety report and an emergency response and an evacuation procedures and policy report.