Serious crime reported at Binghamton University declined from 2008 to 2009, BU’s police chief said Friday.
Lesser offenses also declined, meaning reported crimes fell almost 9 percent from the previous year, said John Schwartz, BU’s public safety director. He spoke Friday to the Binghamton University Council.
In all, the university’s 39-person public safety department received nearly 40,000 calls last year - more than 100 per day.
The news of a year-to-year decline in campus crime comes at BU is issuing warnings to students to be careful off-campus - specifically, in the city of Binghamton - because of recent incidents there.
In terms of serious crimes on campus, Schwartz reported declines in burglaries, grand larcenies, robberies, rapes and arsons.
The campus had one homicide this past year - the stabbing of Professor Richard Antoun, allegedly by a graduate student who has been charged with murder. The killing is the university’s first on campus since 1972, said university vice president James VanVoorst.
The most serious drop in lesser crime was in petty larceny, where reports fell from 189 to 147. Harassment complaints remained steady, at 91 for each of the past two years.
Schwartz credited education and outreach programs for much of the decline.
