Report details crime at Mesa Community College campuses
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Clery report
The campus-security report for Mesa Community College is on the MCC Policies and Crime Statistics webpage, https://www.mesacc.edu/college-police/policies-crime-statistics.
There were nine crimes reported in 2019 — up from six in 2018 and down from 16 in 2017 — at two Mesa Community College campuses in the Maricopa County Community College District, according to a federally mandated campus-security report released recently.
No crimes were reported for 2019, 2018 or 2017 — the three years in the report — at Mesa Community College’s Downtown Center, 145 N. Centennial Way in Mesa, which includes a fire science/emergency medical technician program, Virtual Incident Command Center, the MCCCD Information Technology Institute, Green Flag Mesa Business Development Center and the MCC/NAU Connection. The MCCCD Police Department office at the Downtown Center is on the fourth floor.
The Downtown Center is not a campus, Dawn Zimmer, Mesa Community College’s media relations manager, said.
“MCC technically only has two campuses, though the college provides training at other locations as well — i.e. the Downtown Center, Vet Tech Center, and prior to mortuary science moving to be overseen by CGCC at the CGCC Williams Campus,” she said of Chandler-Gilbert Community College, also in the Maricopa County Community College District.
No statistics are provided in the report for the Vet Tech Center, 820 E. Southern Ave. in Mesa.
There were 20,351 students at Mesa Community College in fall 2019, 20,387 in fall 2018 and 20,424 in fall 2017, according to 45th-day headcounts in each of those years, said Tricia White of the Mesa Community College Office of Institutional Effectiveness.
Clery reports
The Student Right to Know and Campus Security Act of 1990, renamed “The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security and Crime Statistics Act,” was enacted by Congress and signed into law in November 1990. In 1992, 2000, 2008 and 2013, Congress amended the law via the Higher Education Opportunity and Violence Against Women Acts. These acts expanded the reporting criteria.
Jeanne Clery was 19 when she was raped and murdered in her college dormitory at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. Her parents, Connie and Howard Clery, could not have known the danger she was in; standards for campus crime reporting did not exist in 1986, according to clerycenter.org, the website for the nonprofit Clery Center.
“The Clery Act requires colleges and universities that receive federal funding to disseminate a public annual security report to employees and students every Oct. 1. This ASR must include statistics of campus crime for the preceding three calendar years, plus details about efforts taken to improve campus safety,” according to the website.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 annual security reports were due Dec. 31, 2020, the U.S. Department of Education, through its Office of Federal Student Aid, decided on July 10.
Crimes that are required to be listed by the colleges are, according to the reports:
Murder/non-negligent manslaughter;
Negligent manslaughter;
Rape;
Fondling;
Incest;
Statutory rape;
Robbery;
Aggravated assault;
Burglary;
Motor vehicle theft;
Arson;
Domestic violence;
Dating violence;
Stalking.
They also included crimes handled by local police, such as liquor, drug and weapon violations; and hate crimes.
The reports also have statistics on unfounded crimes.
“Pursuant to the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act regulations, an institution may withhold, or subsequently remove, a reported crime from its crime statistics in the rare situation where sworn or commissioned law enforcement personnel have fully investigated the reported crime and, based on the results of this full investigation and evidence, have made a formal determination that the crime report is false or baseless and therefore ‘unfounded,’” according to MCC’s Clery report.
The 2020 Clery report for Mesa Community College, with data from 2019, 2018 and 2017, is on the MCC Policies and Crime Statistics webpage at https://www.mesacc.edu and in print.
“Typically the report is available in printed form for those who would like a copy in the College Police Department office,” Ms. Zimmer said. “Since the campuses are closed except for in-person classes and appointments, individuals may request that it be mailed to them by calling college police at 480-461-7046.”
MCC main campus
At Mesa Community College, 1833 W. Southern Ave., in 2019 there were five motor vehicle thefts and four domestic violence incidents on campus. In 2018 there were three motor vehicle thefts, one domestic violence case and one stalking incident on campus. In 2017 there were five motor vehicle thefts, one rape, one fondling, one aggravated assault, one arson, four domestic violence and two stalking incidents on campus.
Under arrests and disciplinary referrals, in 2019 there was one drug arrest, one drug referral and one alcohol referral; in 2018 there were four drug arrests, one drug referral and one alcohol referral; and in 2017, there was one drug arrest and one alcohol arrest.
In 2017, 2018 and 2019, no crimes were determined to be unfounded and no hate crimes were reported.
The MCCCD Police Department office is on the west side of the SC building (building 14), on the southwest side of the campus, according to the Clery report.
Red Mountain campus
No crimes were reported in 2019 at the Mesa Red Mountain Campus, 7110 E. McKellips Road in Mesa. One motor vehicle theft was reported in 2018 on public property; and in 2017 there was one domestic violence incident.
There were no arrests or disciplinary referrals in 2019, 2018 or 2017. Also, in all three years, no crimes were determined to be unfounded and no hate crimes were reported.
The MCCCD Police Department office at Red Mountain is in the Ironwood building, according to the Clery report.
Preventing crimes at MCC
There are several contributing factors to the low number of crimes on Mesa Community College’s campuses, Maricopa County Community College Police Cmdr. Steve Lieber said.
“MCC is a site for citizen academies hosted by the city of Mesa PD,” he said of the municipality’s police department. “MCC has 10 sworn officers on its campuses; they also patrol the Downtown Center and the Vet Tech Center.”
Surveillance cameras and other measures have also helped at Mesa Community College, he said.
“The college has taken preventive measures — i.e. enhanced physical security, added and upgraded surveillance cameras, removed low walls around bike racks allowing better camera visibility, established new operational practices and provided employee education to reduce motor vehicle — golf cart — thefts/damage,” Cmdr. Lieber said.
Richard Dyer Managing Editor | East Valley @RHDyer
Meet Richard Richard Dyer has worked at Independent Newsmedia Inc. USA since 1987, starting his career in Apache Junction as a copy editor and being promoted over the years to work as the editor of the Mesa Independent, news services editor for the East Valley office in Apache Junction, managing editor for the East Valley office, news services editor for the East Valley office and eventually also for the newspapers at INI’s then-Chandler office, managing editor again and as a news editor covering Apache Junction/Gold Canyon and Queen Creek. He helped start the Florence Independent while the news editor covering Apache Junction and Mesa news. In January 2023, he became associate managing editor for the East Valley newspapers and in August 2023 became managing editor for the East Valley newspapers of Chandler/Tempe, Gilbert, Queen Creek, Florence, Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon, while also reporting on Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon.
Community: Since 2009, he has worked as a volunteer to design The Blue Guitar Magazine, Blue Guitar Jr. magazine and Unstrung magazine, which are projects of The Arizona Consortium for the Arts; and since 2014, has been overseeing the art submissions.
Education: University of Arizona with a master of arts in journalism and a bachelor of science in agricultural communication. Also continuing education at Mesa Community College in welding in a metal art sculpture class.
Random fact: Saw his first tornado on May 31, 2010, which was classified as an EF-2, as part of a stormchasing tour group.
Hobbies: He is an artist of welded-steel sculptures, selling his artwork at juried and non-juried art shows.
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