Student Victimisation
Frequently Asked Questions
What Home Office funding is available to help reduce crime against students?
Why don’t you require police to specify if a victim is a student when recording crime incidents?
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How can I find out how much of a crime problem exists at or around my university?
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What can parents do to reduce the risk to their sons and daughters whilst they are at university?
Click here for FAQs on the East Midlands Student Safety Report
What Home Office funding is available to help reduce crime against students?
The majority of Home Office Crime Reduction funding is distributed directly to Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs). You should encourage them to use some of their funding to address the issue of crime against students. This is not another target or objective; reducing student crime will help them meet their own targets. For example, many of the areas with the worst burglary problems have large and heavily victimised student populations.
This is also an area ripe for sponsorship - for example, some universities provide crime prevention booklets to their students containing, and paid for by, advertising from local businesses. Nationally, we are looking at engaging some leading brand partners to help deliver crime prevention advice to students and to get them to change behaviour.
Should there be league tables of crime at universities?
Existing data sources are not reliable enough to allow sensible comparisons at this time. For example, not all forces accurately and reliably record whether a victim of crime is a student. The British Crime Survey cannot be used either because it does not include those in halls of residence and the number of students interviewed is too small. University records are not sufficiently accurate, comprehensive or consistent.
Why don’t you require police to specify if a victim is a student when recording crime incidents?
We are working with Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) to encourage forces to record students in full-time Higher Education as a separate category.
Why is this an issue for Universities? Surely the students can take care of themselves. They are adults and should be responsible for their own welfare. And is n’t it a police issue?
The university has a welfare responsibility to ensure duty of care to students during their time at university. Universities provide welfare advice and counseling to students, often through Students Unions and crime prevention and personal safety are part of this. Ensuring safety of students - and staff - and their belongings whilst on university property should be a high priority.
In addition to making sure that students are safe on campus, universities are in a good position to provide their students with crime prevention advice tailored to their own local environment and based on local knowledge. For example, providing them with advice about potential risks of victimisation in particular areas of a city can help students decide where they want to live.
It is not just the responsibility of universities to provide help and advice about crime prevention and personal safety. The University should work closely with the police, the local Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership and the Student Union.
Many universities have a dedicated Police Higher Education Liaison Officer who works with the university and can offer specific advice for students in their area.
Is there any information on individual universities or the difference between new and old universities? How do the problems relating to student victimisation differ between different cities and between universities within the same city?
We are not able to disaggregate the data on the different types of University or whether they are new or old, due to the small sample size from each university. We wanted to get a broad picture across the whole region, and used a random sample of students living in both university-owned and private rented accommodation from all areas.
How can I find out how much of a crime problem exists at or around my university?
Whilst there is no legal requirement to do so, and no standardised recording methods across universities, some universities do collect and publish their own figures about reported crimes occurring on campus. These may be available direct from the university. Crime figures for Police Basic Command Unit areas and for Crime and Disorder Reduction partnership areas can be found on the Home Office website
Many students can’t afford to insure their property. In addition, student insurance policies don’t require them to have and use proper locks - why not?
Having insurance gives peace of mind and means that, if a student is burgled, they can replace their property without having to find the money directly. The price of insurance will often be much less than the price of replacing all their belongings.
The East Midlands report showed that the average cost of property stolen in burglaries was £906. Students should think about the number of goods that they have and how much it will cost them to replace those goods if they are stolen and not covered by insurance. We would encourage all students where possible to insure their property.
A number of insurance companies do offer policies targeted at students and it is a good idea for students to shop around for competitive prices. It is also possible that their parents home insurance policy may cover students whilst they are at university. If not, it may be cheaper to add this option onto their policy rather than taking out a new policy.
The issue of student policies not requiring locks is something we have only recently become aware of and we are looking into it.
Why don’t landlords have to provide minimum security standards in their houses which are rented out to students?
There is currently no legislation to enforce landlords to ensure their properties have adequate security. The Home Office is working with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to ensure landlords take security into consideration.
Many universities run landlord accreditation schemes, through which landlords must agree to meet a variety of minimum standards before the university will let them advertise through their accommodation services. Security should be included in this, making sure that a property has a strong external door, and good locks on the doors and windows.
Guidance on minimum security standards is available in ACPO’s Secured by Design - information is available at www.securedbydesign.com
Students often live in private rented housing with poor security measures. What can they do to reduce their risk of victimisation?
Students should ask their landlord to upgrade the security if it is inadequate. If their landlord is participating in a university run accreditation scheme, the students should make sure that their house does meet the standards set for security and, if not, inform the university Housing Services.
Landlords could be reminded that the costs of repairing damage caused in a burglary are likely to far exceed the costs of fitting decent security.
What can parents do to reduce the risk to their sons and daughters whilst they are at university?
Parents should ensure their sons and daughters are aware of advice on personal safety and protecting personal goods before they leave home to go to university. Ensuring property is marked, for example, can help deter thieves and assist the police in investigating the crime. Students are advised to mark their property with the name of their University and student ID number.
Buying a timer-switch that they can use with lights or a radio to give the impression someone is in is also a very practical idea.
Parents can check whether their own insurance policy covers students and, if not, can sometimes pay an additional premium to include this, which may be cheaper than taking out a separate policy.
Parents can also help house hunting, ensuring the house has adequate security provision. They can also spend time checking the areas where the student will be living, in terms of personal safety when walking around in the area.
There is a cross-Government initiative to provide a one-stop source of advice for parents. We will be putting some advice on that for parents whose sons and daughters are going to university, or leaving home for other reasons. Further details of this initiative will be added here when they are available.
Students aren’t interested in security, why should they take any notice of this? What steps are being taken to get the message across to students?
Students receive a lot of information when they first go to university and personal safety and home security are not likely to be a high priority at that time. They should be encouraged, therefore, to think about security and personal safety before leaving home to go to university. Many student unions and the NUS provide information to students about keeping safe.
The website www. good2bsecure.gov.uk targets students in a way that is relevant and accessible to them. Crime prevention messages should spark their interest; for example, the fact that they might be able to replace their computer, but what about all the work that was on it. Working with student unions is key to any successful student crime awareness campaign.
Last update: Last update: 05/12/03