With another tumultuous semester in the age of COVID-19 coming to a close, global pandemic aside, how safe have students been on ABAC’s campus? Well, that’s all relative and subject to interpretation, and is essentially a decision you have to make for yourself. However, from a more objective standpoint, here are some facts and figures from ABAC’s campus police incident reports for Spring semester 2021 as released to The Stallion Student Newspaper staff and writers.
From January 1, 2021 through April 14, 2021, Figure 1 portrays the various categories of incidents documented by the ABAC Police Department, their frequency, as well as the month in which each incident was reported. Figure 2 portrays the prevalence of each categorical incident throughout the course of the semester as a whole.
Incidents are separated into the following categories: Non-Crime Incidents, Theft/Burglary, Criminal Trespassing, Destruction of Property/Property Damage, Noise Complaints, Traffic Violations, and Prohibited weapons.
Reports released to Stallion staff writers indicated that the majority of incidents reported (62%) were non-crime related. Non-crime related incidents are characterized as occurrences such as false/faulty/inconclusive fire alarms, found property, medical emergencies, and general information (such as the report made on January 30, 2021, of a suspected “weed smell” from a room in ABAC Place 200), gathered by officers, etc.
The next most prevalent category, ranking at 14%, is that of theft and burglary. While the nature of the items stolen, and their value are not indicated in the reports, it’s quite clear that “abstaining from theft” was not a common New Year’s resolution among ABAC students. Out of the 11 incidents reported in January of the Spring semester, theft and burglary account for 5 out of 11 or 45% of reports.
Two notable incidents that took place this semester were in the month of March. Resulting in not one, but two different arrests, officers Joseph Weatherford and Jason Kohler stepped up to protect and serve ABAC students and the surrounding community. On March 6, 2021, “Cpl. Weatherford observed [a vehicle] moving at a high rate of speed traveling South East on Stallion Dr.” No other pertinent details surrounding the event leading to the arrest were noted in the report.
Then, 23 days later, on March 29, 2021, Sgt Kohler was dispatched to ABAC Place 200 in response to a post made on social media. While the report does not indicate specifically what the post was about, what social media platform was utilized, who made the post, or who even reported the posting, the charges were stated as follows “Carrying a weapon or long gun in unauthorized location”, appearing to be a violation of statute 16-11-127(b).
Transitioning from March to April has so far proven to be fairly calm all things considered.
With reports of only a golf cart emitting smoke, a single incident of damaged property in ABAC Place 200, and a report of “suspicious activity,” it seems students are hitting the books rather than aspiring to be crooks.
According to Niche.com, ABAC ranks as the 9th safest campus on an extensive list of colleges across the state of Georgia. Falling under only Piedmont, East Georgia State, Dalton State, Columbus State, Point University, Gordon State, Georgia Gwinnet, Shorter University, and Middle Georgia State universities, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College earns a B+ in safety by their standards. This B+ ranking puts it much higher in safety standards than UGA, Georgia Southern, Georgia Tech, and most other “big name” schools in our state.
Considering that the most common occurrences warranting an incident report here at ABAC is a faulty fire alarm, and found property, it’s probably safe to say that students can sleep easy at night so long as they use common sense and treat others the way they want to be treated.
Disclaimer: Not all official reports were made available to Stallion staff. Reports containing private information regarding medical emergencies, medical information, etc. are not included in the comprehensive reports released to Stallion staff.
