An annual Campus Security report shows a large discrepancy between the number of sexual assault cases reported to Campus Security versus the ones reported to the university RCMP detachment.
Over the last three years, a total of 71 sexual assault cases were reported to the RCMP, as opposed to only 13 to Campus Security in the same time period.
According to the report, of the five cases noted by Campus Security, three occurred in student residences.
“One was a report of forcible rape by a student, one was a report of unwanted sexual touching by a student and the third was a report of unwanted sexual touching by an unknown person,” reads the report. It also notes that the other two cases were reports of unwanted sexual touching in public locations on campus by a former student who has since been prohibited from campus.
When asked about the discrepancy between the reporting given to Campus Security and the RCMP detachment, RCMP Sergeant Drew Grainger pointed to the fact that his agency has a larger jurisdiction.
Up until this year, the Campus Security report didn’t include sexual assault statistics from the RCMP. It wasn’t until UBC’s internal Safety Working Group recommended including the RCMP statistics that they were published alongside the report.
The statistics show that since 2009, there have been 140 reports of sexual assault to the university RCMP. Of those reports, 98 occurred on campus.
The report also shows that there was a large decline in the number of sexual assaults reported to the RCMP between 2013 and 2014. In 2014 there was only 3 sexual assaults reported as opposed to 50 in 2013.
Grainger said that the RCMP has an excellent working relationship with Campus Security. At the recommendation of the Safety Working Group, Campus Security and the RCMP will be regularly exchanging data and information on incidents of personal security and campus safety.
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