Public safety reports drops in burglary and drug crime Director Lisa Boudah believes Steven Browne's absence contributed to drop

Author: Cloe Shasha

The Department of Public Safety released the Middlebury College Annual Crime Report Statistics for 2007 on Oct. 9. The report includes crimes committed in 2005 and 2006 as well. While most rates of specific crimes did not drastically change between 2005 and 2007, the drop in burglary since 2006 and the drop in drug law violations since 2005 are noteworthy.

Associate Dean of the College and Director of Public Safety Lisa Boudah explained that while these numbers are representative of true statistics, many crimes are not reported by the victims involved.

"I think more students are more aware now that they should be mindful of their space and lock their doors when they are gone," Boudah said. "But maybe some years more people took effort to report, and others didn't."

Between 2006 and 2007, the burglary count on campus fell from 24 to 12 and from 18 to six in residential facilities.

Boudah speculated that the primary reason for this sudden drop was because of specific individuals - no longer at large on campus - who were responsible for many burglaries.

"It's not that a lot of people are committing crimes, but often there are a few people who are committing a lot of crimes," Boudah said. "Like Steven Browne: he was not a Middlebury student but he was stealing backpacks, ID cards, mail in the mailroom, campus checks and he was cashing those checks at banks. He got more and more bold until the police could convict him because they could show him on the banks' video monitors when he was walking in and out."

Vermont State Police cited Browne, a 24-year old Shoreham resident, with a long list of crimes and charged him with felonies in 2006. He was brought into court for forgery and has not been accused of committing crimes since the end of that year.

"Steven Browne went into custody and was on probation," Boudah continued. "Removing him from our community may have had a big effect on the drop in burglaries."

The drop in drug law violations, however, may be more attributable to a change in collective student behavior than to a particular offender. Between 2005 and 2007, the number of drug law violations dropped from 51 to 37 on campus and from ten to three on public property.

According to Boudah, defining drug law violations, particularly with marijuana, can be complicated for Public Safety. If students are found with new paraphernalia - such as an unused smoking pipe - Vermont state law stipulates that the owners of the items are not guilty of a crime. If, however, the found paraphernalia is used, the owners are cited with a drug law violation.

"A few years ago, students were allowed to smoke cigarettes in their residence halls," Boudah said. "But since indoor smoking was banned, the number of drug law violations may have decreased because students may not be smoking marijuana in the residence halls as much anymore."

The Federal government does not require that the College classify which drug law violations are inside and which are outside, so Boudah thinks that more marijuana violations have taken place outside since the cigarette laws changed. If more students are smoking marijuana outdoors, she continued, then it is likely that more students smoke without getting caught.

"Maybe there really were fewer people smoking marijuana in 2007," Boudah said. "But there are students who choose to smoke marijuana who are not found."