By
Emily Severson
Arizona Daily Wildcat
The UA is part of the trend of decreasing weapons violations, along with its peer institutions, during the past few years.
The University of Arizona had 16 weapons violations in 1997, 13 weapons violations in 1998 and eight last year, said Sgt. Mike Smith, UA Police Department public information officer.
"I do not know where credit is due, but it could be because of education," he said. "We have two officers who have spoken about crime prevention at freshmen orientation for the past two years."
However, the UA has consistently had the highest number of weapons violations compared to its peer institutions.
Arizona State University had seven violations last year, University of California at Los Angeles had five and Oregon State University had only one violation.
At Oregon State University, weapons violations as well as other crimes have gone down because the police force has adopted a zero-tolerance policy for crime.
"About five years ago, we began cracking down on drinking and drug abuse," said Jack Rogers, the interim director for the Department of Public Safety at Oregon State University. "As we started to enforce zero tolerance, the crime rate dropped for most crimes."
"A lot of crimes are related to underage drinking and drug abuse, so being stricter about that decreases the overall rate," he added.
Smith said most weapons violations are discovered during traffic stops and it is very rare for a student to bring a weapon on campus.
"Out of the weapons violations, about one a year is because a student knowingly brought a gun on campus," he added.
A student or faculty member that decides to bring a weapon on campus can face criminal charges as well as university sanctions, Smith said.
"This year, there has only been one referral so far to the dean of students' office," said Veda Hunn, assistant dean of students. "The ultimate consequence is expulsion for a student who brings a gun to campus."
Despite the UA's number of weapons violations, many students said they feel safe on campus during the daylight hours.
"I wouldn't walk around campus at midnight, but I do feel safe during the day," said Lisa Buisman, who received a psychology degree from the UA in May.
Some students said they thought the UA campus was safe at any hour.
"I feel safe, even at night, I have class until 9:30 p.m. on Mondays, and I never feel like safety is a problem," said Amy Murray, a science education graduate student.
But some students are still concerned with safety on campus.
"Sometimes I work at night and it's a little sketchy to walk from my car to the building," said Renee Pederson, a UA sign language interpreter for the Disability Resource Center.
