What is crime prevention?

Crime prevention is defined as "the anticipation, the recognition, and the appraisal of a crime risk and the initiation of action to remove or reduce it." The first step in crime prevention is to realize that in order to prevent crime or becoming a crime victim we must accept that crime prevention is a shared responsibility. It is not a college problem or a police problem. It is a societal problem that can only be properly addressed by the entire campus community. On a college campus that includes, students, faculty, staff, visitors and neighbors. Therefore, campus safety is truly a shared responsibility.

Three elements must be present for a crime to occur; desire, ability, and opportunity. This is also known as the crime triangle. A person may "want" to commit a crime, and have the "ability" to commit a crime, but if we deny them the "opportunity," then no crime can be committed. Historically, the primary goal of crime prevention has been to apprehend criminals. Although this goal is still important, the goal of preventing crime and also reducing the cost of crime has taken on significant importance. Our goal is to help individuals prevent crime by helping them make decisions in their every day lives to reduce the opportunity for crime to occur, whether on campus or not.

Understanding campus crime prevention and how you can personally increase your chances of having a safe and enjoyable college experience will mutually benefit you and your campus.

UHPD offers a variety of crime prevention programs to our community members, including:

• Personal Safety Awareness
• Operation ID
• Residential and Office Security
• Sexual Assault Awareness
• Motor Vehicle Theft Prevention
• New Student and Employee Police Service Orientation
• Community Dialogue Failure to Safeguard Program
• Bike Registration
• Rape Aggression Defense (RAD)
• Alcohol Awareness
• Drug Awareness
   

Crime prevention is important to the campus community and you can help by reporting any crime or suspected crime to UHPD immediately. By doing so, you may be preventing someone else from becoming a victim of a more serious crime. Police officers assigned to your beat and patrol area will be glad to give demonstrations and talks to interested campus groups. Call our crime prevention officer for additional information.