Editor’s note: This is the first in a three-part series examining violent crime on campus and in DeKalb.

Since the beginning of the new year DeKalb has seen a shooting, a number of large fights and many other illegal violent acts committed within the city’s limits.

What police agencies classify as Index I crimes, which includes many of the more violent crimes such as homicide and aggravated assault, have increased by 28 percent from 1999 to 2000. If the current trend continues, these crimes are likely to continue increasing in DeKalb for the year 2001.

With this in mind, some students have begun to question their safety.

“I really don’t like walking in the gravel lot north of Lincoln Hall. It’s really dark, and there isn’t any kind of public transportation or anything back there,” said junior psychology major Angel Hernandez.

Other students choose to stay away from areas they feel could be problematic.

“Whether I feel safe or not on campus depends on where I’m at,” said Victoria Kuchan, a senior corporate communication major. “If I were alone by the lagoon at night, I would probably feel quite uncomfortable. I just stay in the well-lit areas if I have to travel alone at night.”

University Police routinely advise students to utilize public transportation provided by the university and to avoid walking alone at night.

After the shooting that occurred at a party on Regent Drive in February, freshman marketing major Rashonda Ward said she is more skeptical about going out to parties but doesn’t allow her skepticism to change her plans too much.

Some people blame social and economic changes combined with an increase in the use of alcohol for the rise in violent crime.

“The reason we have been seeing so many fights is because people don’t get along with one another anymore,” interim UP Chief Lt. John Hunter said. “People are getting away from common courtesy and respect and looking more to confrontation — the use of alcohol only compounds these problems.”

DeKalb police Lt. Jim Kayes agreed.

“When people choose to fight, the way they go about it appears to be changing,” he said. “It seems to me that in the past, fights were usually one on one, now there appears to be a mob mentality in which fights consist of a large number of people against one or two.”

Public Perception

One of the major factors in determining how crime affects a population is by looking at the public’s perception of crime, said Jim Thomas, a professor of sociology at NIU.

“I don’t think violent crime is really increasing, you have to look at larger trends than just the recent ones,” Thomas said. “However, everything is not fine because of the public’s fear of crime. If we don’t feel safe, then it doesn’t matter if we do live in a community whose crime rate is lower than the rest of the state or not.”

However, Thomas said he perceives the area as doing well, considering DeKalb’s proximity to Chicago.

“When you take into consideration the fact that DeKalb’s population base is 49,000 — but with the university it is actually much larger than that — plus DeKalb is a very economically mixed town with a large proportion of males in the ages most prone to violence, I think we’re doing quite well for a college campus so near Chicago,” Thomas said.

There are some students who don’t feel affected by the increases in violent crime.

“I feel relatively safe here as far as crime. I’m more concerned about my safety crossing the street,” freshman history major Matt Lazzara said.

Junior biology major Jill Bottorff agreed, but still has reservations.

“I feel safe at certain places here, but there are areas that really concern me,” she said. “I don’t feel safe walking on Hillcrest Drive, even with someone else, and I feel uncomfortable in any of the parking lots on campus, especially behind the Founders Memorial Library.”