From apartment shootings to on-campus burglaries, the rate for student-related crimes has been on the rise in Gainesville throughout the past year.
Although the amount of motor vehicle theft on UF campus decreased, the amount of burglaries reported by University Police Department more than doubled from 2007 to 2008.
The amount of aggravated assaults also increased, according to UPD crime statistics.
Crime for the city rose by about 8 percent in 2009, with increases in larceny, burglary, robbery and aggravated assault, according to data compiled by the Gainesville Police Department.
Recently, there has been an increase in crimes reported at off-campus apartments and housing developments with high populations of student residents.
In September 2009, there was an armed robbery at Rockwood Villas Association, 900 SW 62nd Blvd.
There was another robbery reported in the parking lot of the apartment complex in February.
A Santa Fe College student was shot and killed while visiting a friend at 5811 NW 23rd Terrace in Pine Ridge on Jan. 6.
On Jan. 27, there was an armed robbery in the parking lot of Enclave Apartments, 3000 SW 35th Place, and one man was shot in the leg as he ran away, according to Alligator archives.
An employee of the Enclave could not comment on the incident itself but said the complex increased night-watch security in the weeks that followed and sent fliers to residents to raise awareness.
But statistics alone can be misleading, according to Cpl. Tscharna Senn, spokeswoman for GPD.
Senn credited the increase in crimes on the city annexation of a large portion of land in 2009.
However, GPD is not making excuses, and Senn said the police department is addressing the growing crime rate.
“We immediately put resources together to try and curb that rate,” she said, referring to Chief Terry Jones’ recent initiative to ensure problem areas get the officer coverage they need.
Senn also said students tend to be easy targets for criminals.
“They’re so transitory in nature,” she said. “They’re always coming and going and not always remembering to lock their door,” she said. “If they take the extra time to secure their bike and make sure ... that their cell phones and computers are put away from plain sight ... then the criminal is going to go somewhere else that’s easier.”
