Pubdate: Sun, 23 May 1999 Source: Orange County Register (CA) Section: News,page 12 Copyright: 1999 The Orange County Register Contact: http://www.ocregister.com/ Author: The New York Times COLLEGE DRUG ARRESTS UP FOR 6TH YEAR Crime: Officials say enforcement is behind 7% higher alcohol-related detentions and 4% more illicit-substance violations. Washington - Drug arrests rose by 7.2 percent and alcohol-related arrests by more than 3.6 percent on college campuses in 1997, the sixth consecutive year of increases, according to a survey being released Monday by The Chronicle of Higher Education, a national newspaper that covers education and academic life. In 1996, alcohol-related arrests increased by 10 percent and drug arrests by 5 percent. As in past years, college law-enforcement officials and administrators attributed the rise to aggressive enforcement policies rather than to more use of drugs and alcohol. "There is greater attention to security concerns at colleges becausethe consumers - parents - forced schools to make campuses safer," said S. Daniel Carter, the vice president of Security on Campus Inc., a nonprofit organization based in King of Prussia, Pa., that works with colleges and universities to prevent campus crime and to deal with violators and victims. According to the annual study, which tracked crime reports at the nation's major colleges and universities, there were 7,897 drug arrests in 1997, up from 7,370 in 1996, and 17,624 alcohol-related arrests, up from 17,019 in 1996. Colleges are required by federal law to compile the number of crimes reported on campus each year. The Chronicle's survey covers 483 four-year colleges and universities with more than 5,000 students each. Keeping pace with national trends, the number of robberies and burglaries fell 9 percent in 1996 and 8 percent in 1997, for a total of 14,837 in 1997. Motor-vehicle thefts were down by 9 percent. Reports of aggravated assaults were down, and the number of murders on compus fell after increases the previous two years, from 15 in 1995 and 19 in 1996 to 13 in 1997. The number of reported sex assaults grew to 1,053 from 1,049. Other sex offenses - including statutory rape, incest, indecent exposure and lewd behavior - were down 29.5 percent, to 93. But safety experts noted that sex offenses are the crimes least likely to be reported by victims. About 40 percent of the schools surveyed indicated that hate crimes had occurred on their campuses in 1997; about one-third reported this in the previous survey. The University of California, Berkeley (with an enrollment of 29.797), which had the most drug arrests in 1996, topped the list in 1997 with 179. It was followed again by San Jose State University, with 162. There were 142 arrests at the University of Arizona, 127 at Arizona State University and 126 at the University of Utah. For the second year in a row, Michigan State University (with an enrollment of 41,545) reported the highest number of alcohol-related arrests, 633. Next cam the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, with 555. They were followed by UC Berkeley, with 460. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D