Spike In Campus Crime A Mystery

By Brooke Manuel, Skyline Desk Chief

ALPINE – Sul Ross State University officials are scratching their heads over a recent spike in campus crime, which saw more cases of significant incidents in September than the previous eight months.

Possible explanations include a post-Covid surge, which would mirror the rest of the nation, or insufficient security, which is clearly not the case since Sul Ross has one of the best ratios of campus police to students among Texas universities.

Kent Dunegan, SRSU director of campus security, told the Skyline that “it’s not because of a lack of security that these incidents occurred.”

“It’s solely not related,” he said.

Ben Telesca, vice president of student affairs, had no explanation for the uptick in crime, particularly with cameras around campus and the recent addition of enhanced lighting. More “blue light stations,” where students can push an alarm button in an emergency, might be warranted, he said.

“Absolutely,” he said. “I think they’re invaluable.”

There were more incidents of theft, burglary, and assault in September 2022 than the past two semesters combined. According to SRSU’s daily crime log, this September saw three thefts, two burglaries and one assault. Between January and August of 2022, there were no thefts cases, one burglary, and one harassment.

According to university officials, the spike in crime was an anomaly and clearly not due to insufficient numbers of campus police. The SRSU Alpine campus’ student to police ratio is 222:1 as of the fall 2022 semester, significantly better than most Texas universities.

That ratio at other Texas campuses ranges from 57 students per police officer at UT Southwestern Medical school to 1,365 students per police officer at UT Arlington, according to a 2019 FBI survey. Sul Ross’ 2022 figures would have ranked fourth among Texas schools in the FBI report.