Editors’ Note: This story has been updated based on an email sent to the campus community on Oct. 29 regarding a clerical error in the original report.
The Lehigh University Police Department released its Annual Security and Annual Fire Safety Report on Sept. 30 to inform the Lehigh community about crime data and new safety policies.
According to an email sent to students, faculty and staff, the university publishes the report each year following the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act).
Under the Clery Act, the university must provide students and employees with information on its security policies, security procedures and crime statistics, including arrests and disciplinary actions.
Lehigh Police Chief Jason Schiffer said the department has a records management system that records and tracks all of the police activity on campus.
Schiffer said data also largely comes from the Office of Student Affairs and the Office of Student Conduct and Community Expectations.
“Every year, we work on reconciling that data (and) make sure we report everything, like every incident of Clery reportable crime — and that we don’t over-report,” Schiffer said.
The report also outlines fire safety compliance and policies addressing sexual misconduct and harassment.
The report includes crime data from 2021-2023 in three different categories: on-campus areas, non-campus areas and public property.
Non-campus data includes any property owned or controlled by a student organization or any off-campus property used for educational purposes by the institution and students — not located within the immediate geographic location of the main campus.
The report said students who have experienced any form of sexual harassment or sexual misconduct are encouraged to notify the Title IX Office to file a report or complaint immediately.
From 2021-2023, there were no reported cases of murder, manslaughter, robbery, weapons possessions or arson. In 2023, there was one reported case of motor vehicle theft on public property.
Cases of students using the university’s medical amnesty policy are still classified as underage drinking crimes and are included in the report, but criminal charges aren’t brought against students.
Schiffer said the liquor violations from 2023 are consistent with the previous two years, and there hasn’t been a big change in the numbers for drug offenses.
“There’s three years of data that’s reported in each Annual Security Report and I didn’t see anything that stood out to me as alarming at all,” Schiffer said. “A lot of the numbers were fairly consistent and statistically similar from year to year.”
On Oct. 24, the report was updated due to a clerical error. The correction — which refers to a chart outlining campus crime between Jan. 1, 2021 and Dec. 31, 2021 — states, “Under the Disciplinary Referrals Column — All statistics for Liquor Law Violations, Drug-Related Violations and Weapons Possessions were corrected.”
The revised liquor law violation numbers are as follows: 166 on-campus residential, 213 total on-campus, 0 noncampus, 15 public property and 228 total. The revised drug-related violation numbers are as follows: 28 on-campus residential, 29 total on-campus, 0 noncampus, and 29 total.
Compared to the 2020 numbers, residential on-campus, total on-campus, and noncampus liquor law violations decreased, while public property liquor law violations increased. Overall, total liquor law violations decreased by 33.7%. Residential on-campus, total on-campus, noncampus and public property drug-related violations decreased, with a total decrease of 46.3%.
Further support and resources are offered across campus including the Title IX Coordinator website, alcohol awareness and harm-reduction initiatives, hazing prevention efforts, resources, and reporting mechanisms, the HawkWatch personal safety app and a reminder to subscribe to emergency text alerts.
Schiffer said the department’s efforts to improve campus safety are reflected in their recent changes to safety training and protocols that have changed.
He said changes to campus safety and self-defense sessions currently offered aren’t reflected in the report.
“I believe the report reflects what’s been going on on our campus and what measures we have put into place to educate our community to try to do what we can to prevent crime at Lehigh,” Schiffer said.
Comment policy
Comments posted to The Brown and White website are reviewed by a moderator before being approved. Incendiary speech or harassing language, including comments targeted at individuals, may be deemed unacceptable and not published. Spam and other soliciting will also be declined.
The Brown and White also reserves the right to not publish entirely anonymous comments.