Some students took the initiative to replicate and share the formerly available data on their own
The University of Florida recently removed nearly eight years’ worth of online crime data, Florida NPR station WUSF Public Media reported.
The records left “only limited details about crimes that occurred on or near campus during the past 60 days,” according to the news outlet.
UF reported in 2022 its highest number of rapes as well sexual battery causes, as well as increases in burglaries, dating violence, domestic violence, grand theft, harassing communications, stalking and trespassing, according to WUSF.
The changes were made “to ensure the information displayed is accurate and current,” the university told the news outlet in a statement.
Under the Clery Act of 1990, universities are required to make data for certain crimes available to the public and current for up to 60 days, the news outlet reported. UF had kept the old data available to download for years.
Some students took the initiative to replicate and share the formerly available data on their own, WUSF reported.
“Two undergraduates in the university’s College of Journalism and Communications…launched ufcrime.com, a new website that restores convenient access to all UF’s historical and contemporaneous crime data,” according to the news outlet.
The College Fix reported earlier this year on students’ calls for more significant security forces on campuses like Temple University and St. Joseph’s University in the wake of an uptick in crime in the universities’ urban home of Philadelphia.
“We believe that if we had the proper resources, such as a properly staffed police department, and a data driven ideology to policing, we can drastically cut down on violent crime in the Temple Area,” Temple University police officer and union president Alec Shaffer told The Fix last month.
“Nothing has been effective in reducing crime near Temple because there are no crime fighting measures in place,” the police union president said. “We are strictly a reactionary force and nothing is being done to actually prevent crime.”
MORE: Students protest George Washington University’s decision to arm campus police with handguns
IMAGE: University of Florida
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