Florida Atlantic University revealed in a security report last month that there have been reports of 591 crime cases across the six campuses from 2022 to 2024. 

With Boca Raton being the campus hotspot with a student body population of over 30,000, the report shows that 576 of the cases came from the Boca campus, including a continuing rise in car theft and the first case of domestic violence in the last four years. FAUPD Chief of Police told the University Press earlier this year that there is an influx of crime on the Boca campus due to its high volume and shared geographic location.

However, crimes like aggravated and sexual assaults saw major decreases in 2024. According to the Jeanne Clery Act, all colleges and universities are required to report crimes that happen on each campus annually.

Crime Statistics

Each crime statistic in the FAU security report includes both on-campus and student residence facilities. The report reveals an ongoing trend of car thefts in the Boca Raton campus, with 21 cases in 2023 increasing to 34 cases in 2024. In 2023, there were 16 reported cases of burglary; this number was cut in half in 2024, with eight cases. 

A consistent trend has been the cases of fondling, defined in the report as the touching of the private body parts of another person for sexual gratification, without the consent of the victim. In 2024, there were six cases, which is just one less than in 2023.

The University of Central Florida in Orlando has a student population of 69,000. Comparing FAU and UCF’s main campuses, there is nearly a 40,000-student difference. However, in 2024, UCF reported three cases of fondling, compared to six at FAU, according to UCF’s annual security report. There were three cases of rape in 2024, defined as any sexual act without consent, down from six cases in 2023, according to the report.

FAU had one case of domestic violence in 2024, its first in three years. Reports of dating violence showed a steady trend, with eight cases in 2024 compared to 11 in 2023. The report defines dating violence as violence committed by someone who is or has been in a romantic or intimate relationship with the victim.

The University of North Florida, a college located in Jacksonville, has over 16,000 students, yet the same number of cases of dating violence in 2024. What has decreased immensely in 2024 at FAU was aggravated assault. In 2022 and 2023, there were a total of 16 cases of aggravated assault, but no cases in 2024. 

The report defines aggravated assault as an “unlawful attack by one person upon another where either the offender displays a weapon, or the victim suffers obvious severe or aggravated bodily injury involving apparent broken bones, loss of teeth, possible internal injury, severe laceration or loss of consciousness.”

Another number that FAU saw lessened in 2024 was stalking, with five cases compared to nine in 2023. The report states stalking is “engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to fear for the person’s safety or the safety of others; or suffer substantial emotional distress.”

Arrests

On the Boca Raton campus, drug law violations saw an increase with four violations in 2024, which led to arrests. Drug law violations are defined as “the violation of laws prohibiting the production, distribution, and/or use of certain controlled substances and the equipment or devices utilized in their preparation and/or use,” according to the Clery Act.

FAU enforces a Drug-Free Environment Policy that applies to both on-campus and off-campus events. “The University has adopted and implemented programs that seek to prevent the illicit use of drugs by University community members,” states the policy. There were no alcohol law violations or arrests at the Boca Raton campus in 2023 and 2024.

Disciplinary Referrals

Alcohol violations have risen from 63 in 2023 to 100 in 2024. In 2022, there was a record-high number of alcohol violations with 149 violations across the Boca Raton campus. According to FAU’s Alcoholic Beverages Policy, a violation is “the unlawful possession, use, or abuse of alcohol is strictly prohibited in and on all property owned, leased, or controlled by the university or at any university event.”

A new high for FAU was drug law violations, with 24 cases all on-campus in 2024, compared to 16 in 2023 and 13 in 2022. However, no cases of weapons law violations in the last three years. The last reported cases were back in 2021, when there were three. FAU defines weapon law violations as breaking rules about dangerous weapons, whether it is making, selling, hiding, carrying, or using them on and off campus.”

Other FAU campuses

Outside of the Boca Raton campus, John D. MacArthur has had eight reported crimes since 2022, the second most across all FAU campuses. For the second straight year, the MacArthur campus has another drug law violation.

At the Davie campus, there have been four reported crimes since 2022, including three motor vehicle thefts and one case of arson on public property in 2022. There was one motor vehicle theft committed in 2024. 

There were two reported cases of motor vehicle theft back in 2022 at the Sea Tech campus. There were no reported cases at this campus in 2024. For the Harbor Branch campus, located in Fort Pierce, one new burglary case was reported in 2024. Since 2022, there have been no crimes committed at the FAU Fort Lauderdale campus

Anthony Ortiz is a Staff Writer for the University Press. For more information regarding this or other stories, email Ortiz at ajangus1331@gmail.com.