Drugs and alcohol are the two biggest infractions that University Police has to deal with at Loyola, according to the department’s annual crime statistics report.

The report, released on UP’s Web site Oct. 11, detailed both crimes and disciplinary referrals reported at Loyola during the past three years.

Police filed 72 disciplinary referrals for liquor law violations in 2005 on both the Main Campus and the Broadway campuses. This number marks an increase over 2004 and 2003.

University Police Chief Patrick Bailey attributes this rise to a decrease in acceptance of drunken behavior among students, who have been reporting this conduct more frequently. “People are getting less tolerant of all that kind of crazy behavior,” Bailey said.

UP doesn’t catch every alcohol violation, though, said Stephen MacDonald, music industry junior.

“If they don’t catch something every day, then they miss something every day,” MacDonald said. “A lot of people … go to their room and just have a beer.”

In contrast to the rise in alcohol referrals, UP found drug referrals to be down from 2004. In 2005, UP filed 30 drug referrals in 2005, about half the number from 2004.

Overall, crime on campus follows this declining trend. Although these statistics account for only half of 2005 because of last fall’s hurricane closure.

Bailey, who has been with UP for 14 years, said that it’s hard to judge what would have happened with 2005 if the storm had not hit.

“Statistics are just a hard thing to call,” he said.

“Our crime statistics are fairly constant, with the exception that we get occasional spikes here and there,” said University Police Captain Roger Pinac, who has been at Loyola 16 years.

Aside from drugs and alcohol, Loyola’s second biggest problem is theft, Bailey said.

John Sequeira, mass communication junior, agreed that theft is a problem.

His bike was stolen last week from a Cabra Hall bike rack, where it was locked.

Laptops, iPods and calculators also make theft a bigger problem now than it was 10 years ago, Pinac said.

“We try to adjust to different trends that we see,” he said. If crime is up in one area, crime prevention programs are started in that area, added Bailey.

The statistics report showed no other crime reported to UP for 2005.

“I don’t consider any crime acceptable, but (Loyola is) at a very tolerable level overall,” Bailey said.

Pinac said that this level of safety poses its own problems.

“It’s a double-edged sword with crime prevention because if you do too good of a job, everyone thinks this place is like … home,” said Pinac. “We’ve been out at two, three o’clock in the morning and people wander around like this place is Disneyland.”

Kim Huynh, psychology freshman, said she feels safe on campus.

“At night, sometimes I go for a walk with a friend in the neighborhood and I still feel safe,” she said.

Pinac said that while comfort on campus is good to a degree, taking that comfort off campus is “nerve-racking” for campus police.

“That’s the downside of a safe campus,” said Bailey, “but I’d rather have a safe campus.”

Catherine Cotton can be reached at [email protected].