Reports of violence against women spike in 2022
The MIT Police Department released its Annual Security and Fire Safety Report Sept. 19. The report highlights the policies undertaken by MIT to reduce crime and mitigate risk as well as the resources available to victims of violent crimes. Furthermore, the report contains statistics on crimes committed on-campus and in non-campus locations ranging from 2020 to 2022. These statistics encompass crimes reported to MIT Police, other campus security agencies, and local police agencies.
There were 26 criminal offenses in 2022, a slight decrease from 29 in 2021. Categories including aggravated assault, burglary, and motor vehicle theft were down from previous years, contributing to the lower total of offenses. However, in 2022, 15 of these criminal offenses were labeled under rape, a nearly four-fold increase from the previous year.
Reports of Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) offenses, including domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking, dramatically increased from 10 in 2021 to 23 in 2022. There were 14 reports of stalking in 2022, double the number from 2021. Reports of domestic violence increased from 3 in 2021 to 7 in 2022. The majority of VAWA offenses were reported to have occurred on campus in residence halls.
Three arrests for drug abuse violations occurred in 2020, but no arrests have occurred since then. Disciplinary referrals for liquor law violations dipped slightly in 2022 to 31 from 49 in 2021.
There was no report of a hate crime in 2022; in 2021, there was a single report of a race-based hate crime.
Two fires occurred during the time range of the report. In 2020, a fire was reported at Ashdown House due to “cardboard boxes left unattended on top of a stove.” In Oct. 2022, a fire was reported at the Westgate Apartments due to a “stove top fire” in a communal kitchen. From 2020 to 2022, no undergraduate residences experienced fire events.
Crime reports can be made to the MIT Police at (617)-253-1212 or anonymously at (617)-258-8477.
