The University of Connecticut has recently released its annual Clery Security and Fire Safety Report for the 2024 calendar year. This report goes into statistical details of arrests and disciplinary referrals that have happened on UConn’s campus related to drug or alcohol offenses, as well as hate crimes reported in the Storrs area.
This report is required by federal law for all universities that receive financial aid funding from the federal government. UConn collects the data required for the report through UConn police officers and 1,200 campus security personnel, which includes faculty advisors, coaches and resident assistants.
One of the most important parts of the Clery report is the sexual assaults reported on campus and the surrounding area.
In 2024, eight sexual assaults were reported in Storrs, which is the same as 2023. Out of the eight, only two of them were directly reported by an individual, while the others were reported by different UConn personnel.
The only area in the Cleary reportable crimes section of the report with a significant increase was burglaries in Storrs.
In 2024, there were 27 reported burglaries, all on campus. This number is more than double 2023’s total of 12 and heavily outweighs 2022’s total of three.
This serves as a reminder for students at UConn to keep their doors locked when they leave their dorm or apartment unattended, although most of the burglaries were reported to be by one student, who is not currently a student on campus, according to Stephanie Reitz of UConn Today.
There were multiple areas that decreased in comparison to past reports or stayed constant at zero.
Motor vehicle theft decreased from 12 in 2023 to one in 2024. Arson also decreased from 5 in 2023 to one in 2024. Some crimes that were at zero in total for 2024 include murder, manslaughter and robbery (no interactions between homeowners and burglars in burglary statistics).
Weapon, drug and alcohol violations decreased across the board in the new report. Only one arrest was conducted related to a weapons violation, compared to seven in 2023.
Disciplinary referrals related to liquor law violations were down to 64, with the 2023 number being at 219. There were also zero drug abuse arrests and referrals in Storrs in 2024, a promising statistic.
The report also states that for the second year in a row, there were no reported hate crimes in Storrs, or any of the UConn campuses in 2024 for that matter.
A hate crime is defined by the Cleary report as “a criminal offense that manifests evidence that the victim was intentionally selected because of the perpetrator’s bias against the victim,” (p. 86).
Pivoting to fire safety, there were five reported fires in Storrs in 2024.
Four of the five fires were ruled accidental, with three of them being related to cooking oil on a stovetop. The fourth accidental fire was related to a portable electric speaker battery catching fire.
The only fire reported that was not deemed accidental was a fire that occurred in a gender-neutral bathroom in Werth Tower, where paper and plastic combustibles were lit. This fire was ruled as incendiary, or non-accidental.
Besides an issue related to the number of burglaries, there are promising statistics across the board of the new Cleary Security and Fire Safety Report, with many different crime numbers staying low or decreasing in Storrs.
