U. RANKS 5TH IN U.S. FOR DRUG ARRESTS

But Statistics May Not Indicate A Trend, U. Police Officer Says

The University of Utah ranks fifth highest among the nation's campuses for
drug-related arrests, while the percentage of such arrests connected to it
and other Utah colleges rose more dramatically than was the case at schools
nationwide in 1997.

The U. led a statewide rise of 17 percent in campus drug arrests. The
numbers at the university itself increased nearly 30 percent in 1997 to
126. Nationally, the number of drug arrests rose 7.2 percent, according to
The Chronicle of Higher Education and an expanded analysis of Utah college
crime data by the Deseret News.

The U. ranked fifth among four-year schools with high drug-arrest rates.
The University of California at Berkeley tops the list with 179 arrests,
followed by San Jose State University, the University of Arizona and
Arizona State University.

Sgt. Lynn Mitchell of the University of Utah police department said the
statistics may not indicate any significant trend.

"The numbers go up and down," Mitchell said. Mitchell cautioned that the
reported figures may include arrests by university police officers
elsewhere in Salt Lake County. A single bust at a party can often skew
statistics.

Along with the U., the other single largest drug-arrest increase was at
Dixie College in St. George, where arrests rose from three in 1996 to 23 in
1997. Some Utah colleges also followed the national trend with increases in
liquor-related arrests in the study period, including rises at Utah State
University in Logan, Southern Utah University in Cedar City, Weber State
University in Ogden and Utah Valley State College in Orem. The overall
numbers dropped 15.3 percent, with decreases at the University of Utah and
the College of East-ern Utah.

In total, there were 482 liquor-related and 366 drug-related arrests during
the two-year reporting period.

The numbers, the most current available for all schools, also show that
Utah campuses aren't free from violent crime, including forcible sexual
assault. In all, 46 assaults -- most of them involving rape -- were
reported by Utah universities and colleges during 1996 and 1997. Utah State
University had the highest number of reported sexual assaults -- 12, with
most of them attributed to one suspect. There were no murders reported
during that period. The U. reported seven forcible sexual assaults and
Brigham Young University five.

While safety experts said low reported crime figures are no reason to
become complacent, Utah's smaller schools appear to have the best safety
records. Westminster College, on Salt Lake City's east side, reported only
one crime -- a single burglary -- over the two-year reporting period. Snow
College's relatively clean record in 1997 was tarnished by one non-forcible
sexual assault, five burglaries and six drug-or alcohol-related arrests.
Carolyn Perkins, Westminster's dean of students, said that despite the low
numbers, administrators at her school go to great lengths to make sure the
campus is secure, including lighting every corner of campus, offering
night-escort services and sponsoring speakers to talk about how to avoid
sexual assault.

"You can't create a false sense of security. . . . We may not be safe
anywhere," Perkins said, pointing to the recent shootings at Colorado's
Columbine High School and the LDS Church Family History Library in Salt
Lake City. BYU was also an anomaly in state and national surveys, reporting
among the lowest crime and arrest figures for schools its size. University
officials vouched for the numbers' accuracy, saying that when a crime is
committed or an arrest made, they are reported in the federally mandated
figures. Teetotaling BYU only reported one alcohol-related arrest and four
drug-related arrests. Even then, officials said most violations are
attributed to outsiders not affiliated with the school. Other violations of
university policy that are not criminal are not reported in the figures.

BYU Police Chief Robert W. Kelshaw credits a three-year decrease in most
major crimes to an additional 100 part-time security officers on campus. He
also said the school's mandatory ecclesiastical endorsement of students has
led to a reduction in crime. Students pledge to honor LDS Church standards,
including abstinence from alcohol and drugs.

Experts on campus safety warn against using the data to make comparisons
among campuses or concluding that a campus with a relatively low number of
crimes is safe while one with a high number is dangerous. In addition, they
say, reporting has been improving. And the fact that such statistics are
required to be reported at all is significant, said Daniel Carter, vice
president of Security on Campus, a national campus crime victims' rights
group. "It is important that students have a right to know what crimes
happen on their campuses so they can make an informed decision about what
precautions they need to take," Carter said. "It is also important for
campus administrators to have crime reported so they can allocate resources
to confront the problem."

Carter's group lobbied for passage of the federal Student Right-to-Know and
Campus Security Act of 1990 and a 1992 amendment to the act. Under the law,
colleges and universities are required to report crimes in 10 categories.
That number will expand next year, along with more reporting on students
referred for campus disciplinary action for liquor-, drug- and weapons-law
violations. Utah schools usually report crime statistics to incoming
students and some post the yearly statistics on the school's Web site. The
U. and UVSC post police reports online as well.

In some cases, higher numbers in reports might indicate better reporting or
stricter enforcement. For example, the College of Eastern Utah may have
higher arrest numbers than some larger schools, but the school has a zero
tolerance policy for drugs and alcohol, said CEU Police Chief Phyl Johnson.
"It's like comparing apples and elephants," Perkins said of some of the
problems with the crime data.