Reports of rape, domestic violence & stalking up last year at WVU

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WBOY) — West Virginia University has released the Annual Security and Fire Safety Report for 2023, and it revealed that although drug and alcohol violations went down, the Morgantown campus saw an uptick in other crimes.

According to data in the report from 2020 to 2022, over the past few years, there has been a consistent increase in the following crimes:

In a WVU press release about the report, University Police Chief Sherry St. Clair said that not all the sexual crimes were actually reported to law enforcement. Even cases where the victim only reported the case to get resources are included in the report.

“While the report shows an increase in a number of other crimes, such as stalking and rape, we noted that some reports came in through non-police reporting areas and want to continue to encourage those reports so victims can get the resources they need,” St. Clair said.

Liquor law and drug abuse arrests were substantially decreased from 2021, but according to St. Clair, UPD has been pushing for referrals instead of arrests for those crimes to help educate students.

“Rather than immediately citing or arresting students, when possible, we want to provide assistance,” she said.

To see the full 2023 report for all WVU campuses, click here .

Although not reported on the Clery Act report, the WVU release mentioned that it has seen a noticeable increase in bike thefts. Earlier this month, the university sent out a community notice giving students advice on how to keep their bikes safe.

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