The Atlanta City council is planning to announce the new task force formed to prevent campus crimes in local colleges and universities.
The City Council President Ceasar Mitchell has asked for the formation of a task force to provide a secure and safe environment for students attending various grad schools, reported CBS Atlanta.
Accordingly, the council will work with university officials to collect data on campus crimes and make plans to protect the students before the start of the fall semester.
"It is imperative that we formulate a plan now to keep our students safe when they return to school," CBS Atlanta quoted Ceasar Mitchell, Atlanta City Council President, as saying.
Campus crimes in various universities across the nation have been on the rise. After the shocking revelations on the Penn State sex abuse scandal in the Freeh report which pointed out that the university was lacking in awareness on the Clery Act, several universities have put the law in action to reduce campus crimes.
Clery Act was first passed in 1990, which requires all colleges and universities to keep informed about any crime incidents that take place in their campuses. A report in Omaha.com mentioned that the university officials in
Nebraska and Iowa are planning to expand the law to help constrain crimes. The report also noted that the University of Nebraska- Lincoln (UNL) officials have ordered the campus police to develop policies for young people coming to campus.
A news release from the Atlanta City Council pointed that students from universities including Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State University and the Atlanta University Center have experienced majority of campus crimes such as robberies and car break-ins during 2010-11.
According to the Georgia Tech police department's crime statistics, four rape cases, 25 burglary cases, 22 motor vehicle thefts and 11 robbery cases were recorded in 2011. This year till June, four burglary cases and four motor vehicle theft cases have been recorded.
The Atlanta City Council is hoping to prevent such campus crimes. While some students believe that the council's work will help reduce the crime rate, some feel that the council's steps may not work.
