This is the second in a three-part series about violent crimes on campus and in DeKalb.

Although statistics released by police show that violent crimes in DeKalb have risen since 1998, in contrast to the apparent decline nationally, some DeKalb residents and officials don’t necessarily agree that this is the beginning of a trend.

“One must be very careful when dealing with statistics and searching for trends over such a short period of time,” NIU sociology professor Jim Thomas said. “To be considered a long-term trend, it must be at least five years in duration, and the data we are seeing here only covers a little over two years.”

Although not everyone agrees that a rising trend in violent crime may be emerging, the recent increases in violent crimes, including a 144 percent increase in robberies, a 200 percent increase in homicide and a 25 percent increase in aggravated assault and battery from 1999 to 2000, do indicate a difference in the crime rates between those years.

“I would attribute the increases in crime to an increase in the population of the city of DeKalb,” University Police Cpl. Robert Cannon said.

Fred Markowitz, an NIU assistant professor of sociology, also is cautious when using statistics to analyze data that affects people.

“Although it does appear as though we have had more crime than usual so far this semester, it could simply be a random fluctuation in the crime rate,” Markowitz said. “In a town such as DeKalb, a small handful of incidents can make it appear as though things are changing faster than they really are.

University Police Lt. John Hunter agreed.

“In a safe town such as this, one incident can skew the statistics and make things appear to be a trend when there may not actually be one,” Hunter said.

DeKalb police Lt. Jim Kayes also believes that a rise in crime statistics does not represent a decrease in public safety.

“A lot of those statistics depend on what the figure for the population of the city is, plus the socio-economic status of DeKalb appears to be changing,” Kayes said. “With the student population of NIU changing on a regular basis along with the fact that not all students are actual residents of DeKalb, fluctuations in the crime rate are expected.”

Kayes also thinks that social norms can affect crime.

“There seems to be a new rule of behavior established in which people think, ‘If I don’t get caught, it’s OK,'” Kayes said. “There seems to be a lot of people out there today who just appear to be looking for trouble. We have guys that come out here that nobody knows who they are, they take and do whatever they want and then go home scott-free because nobody knows who they are.”

Most other cities and campuses have not seen recent increases in their crime rates.

“These increases in violent crimes committed in DeKalb are in contrast to a nation-wide trend of crime decreasing since the mid-1990’s, including violent crime,” Markowitz said.

Some students who say they sometimes feel unsafe walking on campus admit that NIU and the police do the best they can.

“The police and the university do what they can, but there is only so much that they can do,” junior biology major Jill Bottorff. “I really don’t think it’s the university’s fault. It’s the students’ fault for committing the crimes or not taking the safety precautions necessary to avoid being victimized.”

Jenny Naleck, a junior special education major, thinks the police do a good job scanning the campus.

“I see University Police around on a regular basis — they have the campus covered pretty well,” Naleck said. “I know they are doing all that they can, but they can’t be everywhere all of the time.”