Despite a string of recent campus robberies, Boston University professors, students and police officials disagree about whether there is a relationship between the poor economy and crime rate.
‘A theoretical point of view is that the cost of crime is related to the current condition when economic times aren’t good, and criminals are more likely to engage in criminal activities,’ BU economics professor Daniele Paserman said.
Since Jan. 14, there have been three reported robberies and one reported attempted robbery on and around the Boston University campus, Boston University Police Department Chief Tom Robbins said in an email sent Monday to the entire BU community.
With the economy struggles weighing down heavily on the shoulders of all Americans, the recession can often drive people to drastic measures, Urban Institute Justice Policy Center senior research associate John Roman said.
‘Theft has always been a combination of stealing for personal use and resale,’ Roman said. ‘Muggers today are looking for resources.
‘The worse economy almost always means an increase in property-related crimes,’ Roman said.
Robberies near BU’s campus have increased this time in comparison to last year, with 10 more robberies and attempted robbery cases, according to Boston Police Department crime statistics for Jan. 1, 2008 through Feb. 1, 2008 versus Jan. 1, 2009 through Feb. 1, 2009 for the Allston-Brighton area.
But the U.S. has technically been in a recession since Dec. 2007, and the overall crime rate has not increased since then, Chief Robbins said.
‘When comparing campus crime from last year, overall the crime is down 53 percent,’ Robbins said.
BUPD’s reports contrast with BPD’s crime statistics because they fail to include the number of cases that were reported to the BPD, whose numbers may have also been affected by the division of departments that patrol the same area.
College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Sara Yeung said she does not think the economy has any relation to the crimes occurring on campus.
‘People were getting robbed before the economic downturn,’ Yeung said.
Regardless of whether robberies are more or less common in comparison to last year, they are still frequent and involving students, so BUPD is already devising plans to ensure the BU community’s safety, Robbins said.
‘ BUPD is looking to put together a task force, put officers in plain clothes in the area and ‘beef up’ the number of uniform officers, Robbins said.
‘You can expect to see greater visibility of Boston University police officers so that we can hope to deter these crimes,’ Robbins said.
Daily Free Press staff writers Vivian Ho, Ben Timmins, Jenny Gallagher and Chonel LaPorte contributed reporting to this article.
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