UH-Clear Lake ranked in top 20 for safety

HOUSTON — A commitment by university police to meet and exceed campus safety goals helped University of Houston-Clear Lake score a 98.37 safety rating from the StateUniversity.com, a website that analyzes and rates 450 colleges and universities across the country on a variety of attributes.   

The university received a top 20 rating in the nation among all public schools, moving from a 21 to a 17 ranking nationally and from fourth to second statewide.

The rating is based on incidents of campus crime as reported by campus safety officials.

“The high ranking is indicative of the cooperation our department receives from the community at large,” said UH-Clear Lake Police Chief Paul Willingham. “It is not a police department achievement, but an achievement the entire university community shares — and should be proud of.”

Willingham says the department has developed an aggressive approach of visible traffic enforcement, cooperation with other agencies and a patrol presence on campus as well as beyond the perimeter.

“As always, we love to hear from everyone,” says Willingham. “We urge everyone on campus to call us to report a crime or suspicious activity, or for safety services.”

The StateUniversity.com website features the most complete collection of school statistics. Ratings were based on 2010 crime statistics and violent crimes were given more weight in the ranking system that non-violent crimes.

For more information about the UH-Clear Lake Police Department, visit http://www.uhcl.edu/police, or call 281-283-2222. State University Rankings are available at http://www.stateuniversity.com/rank/safety_score_rank.html.