Crime statistics for several urban Ohio universities show Ohio State to be one of the most dangerous college campuses in the state. Of the five universities examined, OSU ranked at the top of every major category, including murder, burglary, forcible sex offenses and vehicle theft.The study examined crime statistics from OSU, The University of Cincinnati, The University of Akron, The University of Toledo and the University of Dayton.In accordance with the Jeanne Clery Act of 1990, every university is required to post the occurrence of certain types of criminal activity on the Internet, including statistics for the areas in close proximity to their campuses.The Clery Act was named after a 19 year-old Lehigh University freshman who was assaulted and murdered in her dorm room in 1986. Clery’s parents learned the university had not told students about nearly 40 violent crimes at the university in the three years prior to her daughter’s murder. The family then fought for campus crime information legislation, which became law in 1990.All reports must also list whether the offenses took place in the campus area, the surrounding neighborhoods, or public properties like streets and sidewalks adjacent to campus. Most reports include figures for drug and alcohol offenses, weapons violations and hate crimes. OSU ranked first among the universities with four murders, or non-negligent manslaughter cases, in 1999. In 1998, there were five such cases.”Sociologically speaking, the more people you have, the more crime you’ll have.” said Amy Murray, OSU spokeswoman. “I believe Franklin County is the largest county in Ohio and OSU has events that bring hundreds of thousands of people to campus several times a year.” According to the statistics, all of the murder cases occurred on public property, not on property owned by the university. OSU’s last on-campus murder occurred in 1997.The only other university with any homicide or manslaughter occurrences during the three year period was the University of Akron, with one murder on public property in 1999. The University of Akron statistics highlighted a common trend among the universities. Crime generally remained low or non-existent in the campus area but rose dramatically in the neighborhoods directly off campus and on public property.OSU and the U. of Akron were the most extreme examples of that trend. In 1999, U. of Akron reported two cases of forcible sex offenses in residence halls. But in the same year, 21 sex offenses were documented on public property.OSU reported two campus forcible sex offenses in 1999, but 37 on public property. By comparison, the University of Toledo reported zero sex offenses on public property in 1999 and no crimes at all for the non-campus area. There were no crimes reported on public property for The University of Toledo in 1997. The University of Dayton documented six forcible sex offenses on campus but none on public property or the non-campus area during 1999.OSU led all universities in vehicle theft reports with 27 on-campus occurrences in 1999. The University of Dayton suffered 21 vehicle thefts in the same time span. OSU’s car theft total jumped over 135 percent, however, after thefts on public property were taken into account.Columbus police counted an additional 367 cases of vehicle theft on public property in 1999, while the University of Dayton documented only 14 cases. However, the numbers might be misleading.The public property category also includes statistics for suburban areas and police patrol zones adjacent to campus. For example, an increase in auto thefts in an area like Clintonville would appear on the campus crime report.”I don’t know how the city of Columbus keeps its statistics, but I do know that OSU does a really good job of reporting crimes within its borders.” Murray said.The University of Toledo boasted the lowest crime numbers of the five studied. The university reported the lowest number of assaults, thefts, robberies and sex offenses. The University of Cincinnati reported 433 cases of theft on campus and the University of Akron documented 406, with another 1,138 thefts occurring on public property. Toledo’s highest theft total in the report was 352 cases in 1998, which dropped to 234 the next year.OSU and the University of Dayton did not publish theft statistics. Ohio State however, led all five universities in burglary reports on campus with 179 in 1999. UC was second with 74 reported cases. No other university in the study reported more than 25 burglaries on campus. None of the universities studied reported any hate crimes in the three year scope of the reports.Ohio State’s crime statistics can be found via the University Police Web site at www.ps.ohio-state.edu/police/index.html. Crime statistics for the other universities can also be found on their web pages.