Binghamton’s New York State University Police reported a stable number of reported crimes on campus from year to year.

“There’s less of some crimes,” said Investigator Matthew C. Rossie. “Some things have decreased, some increased, but for the most part it has seemed to stay consistent.”

According to Deputy Chief Timothy Faughnan, the number of reported crimes on campus decreased from 1,172 in 2007 to 1,097 in 2008, a difference of 75. While the drop is something to be proud of, he said, it is not extremely significant when looking at recent trends. Despite an increase in the number of students and the addition of the University Downtown Center, Faughnan said, the number of reported campus crimes has stayed fairly constant.

“These things go up and down,” Faughnan said. “The numbers are relatively stable, despite our student population … To me that’s the real story here.”

In the last two years, the biggest drop in crimes reported on campus was in harassment, which fell from 135 to 91. This decrease is a source of pride for University police, who devote themselves to increasing the quality of life for students on campus, Faughnan said.

“People call us for that all the time, and now people aren’t calling quite as much,” Faughnan said. “Hopefully that’s because all of our and Residential Life’s efforts.”

University police have also noticed a decrease in crimes that begin off campus and end up on campus, like many disorderly conduct cases. Faughnan said he believes this could be a result of students being more responsible and looking out for each other.

While many reports have gone down, reports of petit larcenies, or theft of property valued at less than $50, have increased from 131 to 189.

“It could possibly be tied to the economy; people tend to steal things when we’re in tough situations,” Faughnan said.

Of the University police department’s 193 arrests in 2008, 53 were people who were not students or faculty on campus. According to Faughnan, the number of non-student arrests on campus usually stays around 30 percent each year.

While numbers and statistics are important to University police, Faughnan said, it is the positive comments they have been hearing recently that genuinely please them.

“We need to instill a sense of confidence so people will call us when they need help,” he added.