Overall crime on the Boston campus has decreased over the last year while reports of dating violence increased, according to recently-released security reports covering crime statistics at Northeastern’s campuses through the 2023 calendar year.

Northeastern is federally mandated to release an Annual Security Report, or ASR, detailing campus crime statistics and a fire safety report every Oct. 1. Though the latest report reveals that crime decreased on the Boston campus last year, the university said not all statistics received from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority were in “usable format” and that it did not receive crime data from local police departments about satellite campuses.

Here’s what you need to know.

Methodology of ASR Reporting

As Northeastern continues to strengthen its presence across the globe through new expansions and acquisitions, it has the additional task of publishing security reports for 13 satellite campuses that currently enroll students, pursuant to the 1990 Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, or Clery Act, which aims to increase transparency between universities and the public. 

Since Northeastern’s satellite campuses lack a university police department, faculty members who are designated as Campus Security Authorities, or CSAs, are qualified to report crime to local police departments and to the Boston-based Northeastern University Police Department, or NUPD, according to the report. CSAs are also mandated reporters on the Boston campus.

Satellite campuses have documented fewer than five total crimes between 2020-23, The News previously reported, with footnotes on the reports that read either: “Statistics were requested from the local police department but no response was received for this request” or “There are no on-campus residential facilities.” That trend continued this year, with the addition of a footnote found in the Boston and San Jose, California campus reports that read “Not all statistics that were received were in a usable format for Clery Act reporting.”

“Previously, the stats the MBTA [Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority] shared with NUPD were broken down so we could identify if a crime reported to the MBTA occurred within Northeastern’s Clery reportable geography and should be included in the university’s crime statistics,” Northeastern spokesperson Renata Nyul said in an email to The News Oct. 10. “This year, that was not the case.” 

The university did not respond to additional questions about what measures are being taken to ensure crime is reported on satellite campuses if local police departments don’t submit data.

“The university partners with local law enforcement across our global network of campuses,” Nyul wrote.

Boston

The newest data from calendar year 2023 reflect 71 total reports of crime on the Boston campus, compared to 102 in 2022 and 103 in 2021.

The Boston campus report includes all crime that has been reported to the NUPD, either directly through the department or by a CSA. Confidential and anonymous reports are “accepted and included in the ASR for statistical purposes.”

Though there were 15 reported drug violations in 2022, no drug violations were reported in 2023. Liquor law violations, including the sale, purchase, transportation, possession or use of alcoholic beverages, are down from the previous two years, with 231 in 2023, 237 in 2022 and 433 in 2021.

Total sex offenses dropped from 22 in 2022 to 13 in 2023. Offenses were reported in the “rape” and “fondling” categories, but not in the “incest” or “statuatory rape” categories.

Specifically, there were eight reported rapes in 2023 compared to 11 in 2022. Although total sex offenses dropped, dating violence rose from nine total reported offenses to 10, including three more cases in student housing. Stalking cases in student housing also rose from four to seven compared to 2022.

Motor vehicle theft significantly dropped, from 14 reported incidents in 2022 to five in 2023. 

There were four reported hate crimes in 2023, the same amount reported in 2022.

Three of the four hate crimes were on campus, two of which were in student housing. There was one instance of intimidation by sexual orientation bias. The other on-campus student housing instance was a “simple assault incident characterized by sexual orientation bias.” 

Simple assault is defined in the report as “an unlawful physical attack by one person upon another where neither the offender displays a weapon, nor 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.”

The final reported on-campus hate crime was an intimidation related to religious bias. The location was not specified. The only hate crime reported on public property was intimidation related to ethnicity bias. 

Weapon violations have continually dropped the last three years, decreasing from six in 2021 and five in 2022 to two in 2023. 

This year’s report included one “unfounded crime.” The Clery Act appendix defines an unfounded crime as a reported crime that sworn or commissioned law enforcement personnel have fully investigated and determined to be false or baseless.

The university classifies its Nahant and Burlington campuses as “non-campus properties” of the Boston campus, meaning any reports from those campuses will appear in the “non-campus” section of the total crime count. The section had zero reports from 2021-23.

Oakland

A few new points of data were notable from Oakland’s report, but one in particular stood out: reports of liquor law violations rose from nine in 2022 to 157 in 2023, an increase of 1644.44%. Northeastern officially merged with Mills College in June 2022, where students are now being accepted for their entire undergraduate degree, meaning the campus’s overall undergraduate population grew significantly.

Other developments in crime included an increase in drug violations from one in 2022 to two in 2023. Stalking cases also increased from two in 2022 — both occurring in student housing — to three in 2023, which all occurred on campus, though only one in student housing.

Arlington

Northeastern University Arlington had only one reported incident: a motor vehicle theft. 

Since the Arlington campus opened in January 2023, there were no reports from 2021 or 2022.

Charlotte

Similar to Arlington, Charlotte only had one reported crime: an aggravated assault. The altercation occurred on public property.

Last year, Charlotte reported another aggravated assault case as well as a robbery and a weapon violation. These three instances also occurred on public property. 

London

Northeastern University London had zero reported crimes in 2021 and 2022, but two in 2023. For all three years, the university added a footnote that “statistics were requested from the local police department but no response was received for this request.”

There was one aggravated assault that occurred in a non-campus property in 2023. The Clery Act Appendix defines a non-campus building or property as “any building or property owned or controlled by a student organization officially recognized by the institution; or any building or property owned or controlled by an institution that is used in direct support of, or in relation to, the institution’s educational purposes.”

The other reported incident was a weapons violation.

Miami

Northeastern’s Miami campus opened in September 2024, so no crime statistics were available from 2021, 2022 or 2023.

The report notes that on the Miami campus, PalAmerican Security, a security company headquartered in Florida and employed by the Miami campus, must report any crimes its employees become aware of in addition to CSAs reports. 

Portland

No incidents were reported in 2021, 2022 or 2023. 

The university included a footnote that “statistics were requested from the local police departments but not all agencies responded to these requests.”

San Jose

Ten total crimes were reported in 2023, while 2022 saw only one crime: a drug violation on public property. These crimes, all of which occurred on public property, included one instance of robbery, one aggravated assault, one motor vehicle theft, one weapons violation and six drug violations.

A footnote on the reports for 2021 and 2023 read “Not all statistics that were received were in a usable format for Clery Act reporting.” The San Jose Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.

Seattle

Northeastern’s Seattle campus reported one motor vehicle theft in 2023, a change from no crimes of any kind reported in 2022. One crime was reported in 2021 — a burglary that occurred on campus. 

Toronto

No incidents were reported in 2021, 2022 or 2023. The university said in the report that “the local police department did not respond to a request for statistics.”

Vancouver

No incidents were reported in 2021, 2022 or 2023. The Vancouver Police Department said in an emailed statement their “records show no calls for service [to] that address in 2023 or 2024.”

Fire Reports

Though fire reports from the Boston campus in 2021 and 2022 reflect four or fewer “unintentional” fires from cooking incidents, the 2023 report reveals an “intentional” fire caused at 60 Belvidere St. by Arson. The value of property damage was between $1,000 and $9,999.