AMHERST — Alcohol- and drug-related offenses were down last year at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, continuing a three-year downward trend in such incidents, according to a recent report.
Each college and university that receives federal funding must complete reports under the Jeanne Clery Act, passed in 1990, to provide information to students and families about crimes on campus and the resources to deal with them. The reports released earlier this month include crime statistics for calendar year 2015 and compare those numbers to the same statistics reported in 2014 and 2013.
There were 485 alcohol-related arrests and disciplinary referrals at UMass in 2015, a 46.7 percent decrease from the year prior. Those figures include incidents on campus, surrounding areas used by students, on nearby public property, and satellite facilities owned by UMass Amherst, including the UMass Center at Springfield.
In dormitories last year that included four liquor law arrests, up from zero the previous year, and 322 disciplinary referrals, down from 673 in 2014.
There were 49 drug-related arrests and disciplinary referrals last year, down 17 percent from 2014.
In dormitories, that included 29 drug referrals, down from 38 in 2014, and one drug arrest.
Colleges are required to post the reports to their websites by Oct. 1 and to include information about resources available for responding to and preventing certain types of incidents on and off campuses.
UMass Police Chief Tyrone Parham said in a release that the decline in some crime statistics is in part thanks to preventive measures taken by the university.
“Hundreds of awareness and prevention programs were conducted so thousands of people were influenced,” he said.
That includes the promotion of door-locking (residence hall burglaries decreased from nine in 2014 to five last year) and alcohol education programs.
The number of reported rapes increased from 11 to 17 last year within all locations included in the report, though the number of reported rapes in dormitories decreased from 10 in 2014 to nine last year.
“We recognize that the number of reported incidents may vary year to year, and that sexual assault remains a major concern at UMass and colleges campuses across the country,” Parham said. “The university’s UMatter at UMass program promotes continuous awareness and programming to students and an emphasis on bystander intervention.”
Chris Lindahl can be reached at clindahl@gazettnet.com.