photo by: Shawn Valverde/Special to the Journal-World

The University of Kansas campus is pictured in this September 2023 aerial photo.

The latest crime statistics for the University of Kansas’ Lawrence campus continue to tell a story that has been years in the making — reported crime just isn’t as common as it used to be on Mt. Oread.

The KU Police Department took reports on 514 criminal offenses on KU’s Lawrence campus last year, which was a 1.2% decrease from a year ago, the university announced on Tuesday.

But that number just tells part of the story. It is a story that took a dramatic turn in 2019.

From 2014 to 2018, KU reported at least 600 crimes per year on the Lawrence campus, with two years topping 700 and one year topping 800 reports. Then, 2019 came, and crime reports plummeted, falling to 483. They never again have approached the 600-report mark.

Why reported crime has fallen so much at KU isn’t clear. The most KU said about the dramatic decline in 2019 — a nearly 22% drop in one year — was that investment in security technology such as cameras and card access systems on building entrances had played a key role in the lower crime number.

This year, KU in its annual crime statistics report credited the lower numbers to more “proactive patrols,” and a teamwork-like effort to prevent crime.

“Campus safety is a community effort,” KU Police Chief Nelson Mosley said in a press release. “We are fortunate to work with so many people who are dedicated to our students, staff, faculty and visitors at the University of Kansas.”

One thing that did not contribute to a decrease in reported crime in 2023 was an abundance of KU police officers. The department faced staffing challenges during the year, and Mosley alluded to “lower staffing levels” in Tuesday’s report.

However, the chief was more explicit in a report he delivered to a subcommittee of the Kansas Board of Regents — which oversees KU and other public universities — in February. At that time, he said the department had about 10 of its 60 positions vacant. The situation had become so strained that officers were working mandatory 12-hour shifts, up from their normal 10-hour shifts.

“It was months of nobody coming in the applicant pool,” Mosley told the Regents in February of efforts to fill vacant positions within the department. “Now we have some coming in. It is getting better. We have a steady trickle.”

However, officers are still working 12-hour shifts, KU Police Department Captain Jack Campbell said in a brief interview with the Journal-World on Tuesday. But Campbell said the shortage of personnel isn’t a reason that the number of reported crimes is down. In other words, the number of reports isn’t down simply because there aren’t the personnel available to write the reports. If anything, you would expect report numbers to increase due to staffing challenges.

“I think it is more just crime being down in general,” he said. “The staffing challenges potentially could result in more calls because we wouldn’t be there proactively stopping things. I think it is just a shift in crime trends in general.”

For instance, he said the prevalence of ride sharing companies like Uber has helped cut down on drunk driving calls. Driving under the influence citations were up some in 2023 — 21 calls versus 13 in 2022 — but they are down from an average of nearly 28 calls per year during the period of 2014 through 2018.

Some declines, though, have been particularly dramatic. For instance, the KU campus only had six reports of narcotics violations in 2023. From 2014 to 2018, the KU campus averaged about 80 such reports a year.

Reports of larceny and theft from buildings also are down significantly. In 2023, there were 46 such reports. From 2014 to 2018, the campus averaged about 88 such reports a year.

KU’s enrollment has fluctuated during the time period, which could play a role in the number of reported crimes. But the numbers don’t necessarily suggest that has been a big factor in the changes. During the last decade, KU crime reports were at their highest levels in 2014. The fall enrollment in 2014 was 24,612 students and there were 832 crimes reported, or about 34 crime reports for every 1,000 students. While enrollment dipped to just less than 24,000 students in 2022, it rebounded to 25,469 in 2023. That puts KU at a rate of about 20 crime reports per 1,000 students.

Campbell said he thinks there have been positive societal trends that have lessened crime in recent years, although he acknowledged that there is a public impression that crime has been increasing everywhere.

National data presents a mixed picture. FBI crime rate data through 2022 shows nationally that violent crimes increased from 2019 to 2020 but have been decreasing since then. The same data shows property crimes were on a steady decline from 2016 to 2021 but saw an increase in 2022.

Another factor to remember about the KU crime statistics is that the numbers only account for reports taken by the KU Police Department. If an incident happens just outside the KU boundaries but involves KU students, those numbers don’t show up on the KU report. Instead, those would likely show up in the overall citywide crime statistics. Secondly, KU — while a large entity in Lawrence — still produces a relatively small sample size when it comes to crime statistics, meaning they are subject to big swings.

Indeed, not every category of crime declined on campus in 2023. Criminal damage to property complaints hit a new 10-year high with 157 complaints, breaking the previous high of 144 such reports in 2022. Campbell said the department knows what’s leading to the higher numbers — damage to exit signs and similar signs in KU dormitories. Campbell said criminal damage to property — which also can include things like broken windows or damage to vehicles — is the type of crime that can build upon itself. Individuals see one damaged piece of property and get an idea in their head about inflicting damage of their own. That’s why KU is working to fix damage quickly.

But as to why students and others have taken to damaging signs and other property to begin with, that’s still an open question.

“I would love to know,” Campbell said, “because we obviously would love to get them to stop doing it.”