St. Thomas Public Safety released the Annual Security and Fire Safety report in September, disclosing an increase in stalking cases and dating violence and a decrease in drug and liquor law violations from 2023 to 2024.
There are three rough sections of the report: crime prevention methods, crime statistics and resources provided.
St. Paul Campus Manager for Public Safety Aaron Fimon said that measuring the effectiveness of Public Safety’s crime prevention methods is complex.
“I would love to find a way to measure the effectiveness,” Fimon said. “It’s just a very difficult thing to do. Especially just in general, Public Safety is a field where the better we do, the less it looks like you need us.”
Reported stalking and dating violence doubled in 2024
Among the notable statistics from the report was the increase in stalking and dating violence, which is defined as “violence committed by a person who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim.” From 2023 to 2024, stalking offenses increased from six to 17 and dating violence offenses from three to six.
Fimon said that though the numbers show an increase in these offenses, it could just be an increase in reported instances of crime rather than in total instances.
“If you just look at the stats, it’s going to look like it’s having an adverse effect, but it’s actually better for us, because we want everyone to know what the actual number is.” Fimon said.
He said Public Safety is always aware of the “dark figure of crime” — the number of crimes that go unreported.
Fimon said communicating with and educating students, largely through Safety 101 talks, establishes a better relationship with students and helps Public Safety be more aware of crime on campus.
“We’re doing better at getting in the community. People feel more comfortable coming forward,” Fimon said.
GiGi Giordano, director of Counseling and Psychological Services at the Center for Well-Being, seconded Fimon’s explanation for the uptick in dating violence.
“I don’t know, from our perspective, if it’s necessarily an uptick, as much of maybe an indicator of a trend towards more people knowing resources and reporting options,” Giordano said.
Seth Quam, the Health Promotion and Violence Prevention Program Manager at the Center for Well-Being, said that victims of stalking or dating violence should take advantage of on-campus resources.
“I encourage any St. Thomas students who experience any form of sexual or relationship violence to get in touch with the Title IX office,” Quam said. “Title IX can provide a whole range of resources to students, including no-contact orders and academic accommodations. All of these resources are available regardless of if the student wants to go through a formal resolution process.”
Fimon said Public Safety’s partnership with the Title IX office means it is able to receive and share more information quicker.
Fimon explains change in liquor, drug and theft statistics
The statistic that saw the largest change in volume in 2024 was liquor law violations, which dropped from 154 in 2023 to 111 in 2024.
“There’s not a specific reason, except for it’s just happening less,” Fimon said. “From talking to students, it seems like there’s a trend of students showing up to campus and choosing not to drink … It seems like it’s almost a generational thing.”
Fimon also said the decrease in drug violations from 13 to one, a violation he did not specify, is largely explained by the change in marijuana laws.
“The significant decrease was also because what gets out in the crime log is if it’s a crime, and marijuana was legalized, so, it doesn’t get counted towards that,” Fimon said. “But even if we still were counting it, I think it would still be down. We see much less of it.”
The number of reported burglary offenses increased from two to nine in 2024. There was also an increase in catalytic converter thefts from students’ cars parked near campus, according to Fimon.
“Unfortunately, it’s not a campus-specific thing. It’s not like anyone is targeting campus for any specific reason, I think the catalytic converters is just one of those things where they knew there would be a large amount of cars in the area,” Fimon said.
Plans for future health and safety on campus
Fimon said Public Safety is continuously working to improve students’ health and safety, which also pertains to what’s not included in the crime report: mental health statistics.
“I think we do see a lot more, mental health is a common thing that we’re hearing from people, people struggling,” Fimon said. “Our team really wants people to know that we’re not the police. We’re not going to show up and put you in cuffs and drag you somewhere. We want to show up and just provide you with resources. We want to help. If people are feeling alone, if people are struggling, we just want them to call us.”
Giordano said to help students struggling with mental health, the Center for Well-Being’s employees work to reduce wait times, expand same-day resources and offer resources such as brief therapy interventions, group and workshop offerings and traditional talk therapy.
The Behavioral Intervention Team is another resource for students struggling with mental health, among other challenges. The team is a collaboration of the Dean of Students office, Center for Well-Being, Public Safety and Residence Life.
“I would describe it as, just this multidisciplinary group of folks from campus who meet regularly to respond to students who may be in distress or pose a risk to themselves or others … It’s really about proactive support for the student,” Giordano said.
Public Safety is in the “soft-launch” phase of a mobile app called SafeZone. Fimon said SafeZone will allow for faster response times, more accessibility and more crime awareness and prevention. He said this is also predicted to cause an increase in future crime statistics.
“I think we’ll probably see an increase, because people are going to feel more comfortable calling us,” Fimon said.
Fimon oversees Clery compliance for St. Thomas, among other responsibilities. Clery compliance ensures U.S. higher education institutions share information about crimes, campus safety policies and fire safety, and it is what prompts the Annual Security and Fire Safety report.
Looking into the future, Fimon said he is committed to making the annual report as streamlined as possible for students to digest.
“You should feel safe in your home, and that’s our number one priority. We want you to just feel comfortable, feel safe and feel good about being a St. Thomas student,” Fimon said.
Leila Montoya can be reached at mont1761@stthomas.edu.
