North Carolina A&T has put a new system in place for the crime log, or the blotter.

The blotter is where the criminal activities that occur on campus are logged and that information is accessible to the public.  In the last few weeks, there has been a noted decrease in the information included on the blotter.

According to Police Chief Glenn Newell, there were several reasons for the change. One of the main reasons is that the blotter was not supposed to give the amount of information that it had been releasing to the public.

“By law, the only thing we are supposed to give is what is in the current system.” Chief Newell stated in an interview.

The new system was incorporated in November of last year and it eliminated the narrative section of the blotter.

That portion had a lengthy summary of any incident that had occurred on campus.

According to a North Carolina General Statue, the following information is considered public record: the time, date, location and nature of a crime.

Nowhere in the statue does it state that there has to be an actual description of the events. 

The narration that had previously been included in the blotter was only supposed to be seen by a select few in the administration and not by the campus community as a whole.

“Some of the cases featured were of ongoing investigations and should never have had the narrative released,” Chief Newell said.  The printed narration could have affected the results of the case.

The new format can actually be seen at most universities in the country.

In fact the Chief stated that prior to the change in the system, A&T was not compatible with the way the blotter is run on other collegiate level systems.

While The University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s crime log is online and appears to have a better description of incidents, the system is the same as the one at A&T.

In addition to the crime log, they also have a “Campus Alerts” update on their website. This gives a more detailed account of a crime or of suspects in the hopes that the UNCG community can aid in identifying those involved in a crime.

A&T’s Police Chief explained that we also have an alert system in which detailed information is told to the A&T campus. According to the Chief, there has yet to be a case needing public assistance in solving since the new system was set up. 

Winston Salem State University recently changed their system as well. However instead of joining the system that A&T is currently on, Winston Salem is now on the system A&T was previously on.  It was an opposite situation before the new changes to the system took effect.

• Noma Vilane