by our College Data Analytics TeamIs WKU safe? Below we'll take a look at crime statistics for the college campus and surrounding areas.
Our crime and safety report on WKU includes:
Our crime statistics come from the U.S. Department of Education's Campus Safety and Security data. The four types of crimes we will be analyzing are violence against women, arrests for major crimes, arrests for possession, and disciplinary actions.
Murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, and arson are the types of things included in the arrests for major crimes category. The violence against women grouping includes things such as domestic violence, date rape, and stalking. The arrests for possession classification deals with things such as weapons possession, alcohol violations, and drug violations. The disciplinary actions category involves possession of weapons, alcohol violations, and drug violations in the cases where no arrest occurred but some action was taken.
Many colleges and universities report zero incidents in some or all of these categories. In fact, 56% of the schools we cover reported no arrests for major crimes, 67% reported no violence against women, 70% reported no arrests for possession, and 68% reported no disciplinary actions.
While zero reported crimes may seem like a good sign, it does not necessarily indicate that the school has been safer. It may just be that the school doesn't have as strict reporting as others. Likewise, a high number of incidents may just mean that the school is stricter about law enforcement and reporting.
Below, you can see the number of incidents by category as well as the maximum number of incidents reported by any school for comparison's purposes.
| Category | Number of Incidents | Max Number of Incidents (at any school) | Number of Incidents per 1,000 students | Max Number of Incidents per 1000 students (at any school) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arrests for Major Crimes | 10 | 1,670 | 0.55 | 4,000.00 |
| Arrests for Possession | 117 | 880 | 6.44 | 1,352.94 |
| Violence Against Women | 5 | 334 | 0.28 | 1,000.00 |
| Disciplinary Actions | 1 | 2,670 | 0.06 | 4,574.85 |
The percentage breakdown of WKU crime and safety incidents by category is shown in the following chart.
Disciplinary actions account for 0.8% of all crime and safety incidents at the school. Around 88.0% of the crime and safety-related incidents at Western Kentucky University resulted in arrests for possession. About 7.5% of incidents were arrests for major crimes. Acts of violence against women accounted for 3.8% of incidents.
Comparison to Other Schools in the Nation
The charts below show how WKU compares to other colleges and universities in the nation when it comes to each category of crime and safety-related incidents. Note that this does not take school size into account so larger schools are likely to have more incidents.
We can factor in the size of the school and look at the incidents per thousand students as well.
The chart below shows what percentage of WKU crime and safety incidents happened in each location.
Below, you can see the number of incidents by category as well as the maximum number of incidents reported by any school for comparison's purposes.
| Category | Number of Incidents | Max Number of Incidents (at any school) | Number of Incidents per 1,000 students | Max Number of Incidents per 1000 students (at any school) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arrests for Major Crimes | 9 | 1,585 | 0.50 | 4,000.00 |
| Arrests for Possession | 117 | 813 | 6.44 | 888.89 |
| Violence Against Women | 5 | 331 | 0.28 | 1,000.00 |
| Disciplinary Actions | 1 | 2,645 | 0.06 | 4,544.91 |
The chart below shows what percentage of WKU on-campus crime and safety incidents are in each category.
Below, you can see the number of incidents by category as well as the maximum number of incidents reported by any school for comparison's purposes.
| Category | Number of Incidents | Max Number of Incidents (at any school) | Number of Incidents per 1,000 students | Max Number of Incidents per 1000 students (at any school) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arrests for Major Crimes | 1 | 164 | 0.06 | 333.33 |
| Arrests for Possession | 0 | 64 | 0.00 | 111.11 |
| Violence Against Women | 0 | 100 | 0.00 | 194.44 |
| Disciplinary Actions | 0 | 144 | 0.00 | 305.56 |
The chart below shows what percentage of WKU crime and safety incidents on affiliated off-campus properties are in each category.
Below, you can see the number of incidents by category as well as the maximum number of incidents reported by any school for comparison's purposes.
| Category | Number of Incidents | Max Number of Incidents (at any school) | Number of Incidents per 1,000 students | Max Number of Incidents per 1000 students (at any school) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arrests for Major Crimes | 8 | 167 | 0.44 | 101.80 |
| Arrests for Possession | 74 | 715 | 4.07 | 180.35 |
| Violence Against Women | 4 | 140 | 0.22 | 53.89 |
| Disciplinary Actions | 0 | 2,507 | 0.00 | 4,029.94 |
The chart below shows what percentage of WKU crime and safety incidents in residence halls are in each category.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.