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Letter to the Editor: Is it more important for UWM to project an image of safety than to actually provide it?
An email was sent to all UWM students today announcing the release of the latest crime statistics/annual security report for UWM.
After reading it, a significant discrepancy became obvious. In the "Local" row of the "Criminal Homicide" section, the numbers read "122", "n/a" and "0" for 2005, 2006, and 2007, respectively. Part of this discrepancy can be explained by the way "Local" is designated at the beginning of the report:
"Local: Refers to City of Milwaukee. Data for 2007 was taken from the City of Milwaukee COMPASS site, using a 5000 foot radius around the "L" campus. More data is available through the "Query and Download tool" at the City of Milwaukee COMPASS site."
If I am understanding this correctly, it means that data for the entire city in 2005 and 2006 is being compared with data from only the UWM campus area for 2007. This seems akin to comparing apples to oranges, and gives the illusion of a monumental drop in the homicide rate. Clearly this is not the case. In addition to the local attention given to Milwaukee's homicide epidemic (a Milwaukee Homicide Project utilizing cooperation between UWM and the MPD, a Journal Sentinel blog dedicated to Milwaukee homicides, to give two examples), the national press has given it significant attention in the last few years as well. A cursory web search reveals dozens of articles in national newspapers lamenting Milwaukee's rise in deadly violence.
Moreover, the "n/a" corresponding to the 2006 homicide rate appears to be a holdover from the previous annual security report, which omits a hard number and says that "Much of the data was requested but not available from MPD at the time of publication. " This may have been the case one year ago, but surely, nearing the end of 2008, one would be able to find a statistic for the total number of Milwaukee homicides in 2006. Indeed, after 5 minutes of Internet research, I found that the overall homicide rate for Milwaukee was 103 homicides for 2006, according to the City of Milwaukee's "Query and Download" tool. (The date range I used was 1/1/2006 - 12/31/2006. I do not know whether the 2005 number is derived from the same date range, but in any case the numbers are available.)
Again, using the same tool, I found that the homicide rate was 105 for 2007, using a date range of 1/1/2007 to 12/31/2007. The annual security report lists "0".
In summary, there is no reason these numbers should not be included on the annual security report. By omitting accurate statistics and re-defining the terms under which homicides qualify as "local", UWM is doing a great disservice to its students and staff, as well as potentially violating federal law. (Under the Clery Act, college campuses are required to make accurate crime statistics available to students and staff.) Furthermore, UWM is misrepresenting the divided nature of the Milwaukee area, making it all the more difficult to address Milwaukee's shameful place as a leader in urban homicides. No doubt the UWM area is an oasis of safety within Milwaukee, yet its refusal to acknowledge the difficulties of the larger area is striking. Finally, the fact that these glaring omissions occur in a report specifically designed to increase campus safety raises questions. Is it more important for UWM to project an image of safety than to actually provide it?
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