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Students and other adults are increasingly worried about their safety with crime seeming to rise around the Ohio State, Linden, and Easton areas. 

Specifically, armed robberies are becoming the norm around the near off-campus area and other violent crimes in further Columbus zones.  

To measure one's safety from a potential attack, Professor Kenneth Pence at Vanderbilt University designed several assessments on www.rateyourrisk.org. It is for the average person to measure how their lifestyle puts them at risk for potential crimes against them. 

The evaluations measure the risk of serious assault, murder, and burglary. 

Pence is a retired caption from the Metro Nashville Police Department, where he served 31 years and has traveled around the world to teach police and military confrontation management skills. 

The inspiration for creating the threat assessments was to evaluate the risks connected to your everyday activities.

The calculated examinations range from negative scores, which indicate a low risk of being a victim of a crime, to more than an 80, suggesting a severe physical risk for your safety.

Overall, the higher the negative score, the less risk you have from danger. 

Since August 23rd of 2021, the first day of Ohio State's school year, there have been over 130 reports of theft and over 20 sexual assault or harassment accounts on or around campus. 

In addition, Columbus has reported 204 homicides in 2021, an increase of 63 percent (from 174) from the previous year. In 2020, CPD cleared 77 homicides for a clearance rate of only 44 percent. In comparison, Chicago is up by 34 percent. 

Homicide was up across the entire country. One of the primary reasons was the disruption in drug markets resulting from the pandemic and the exacerbation of poverty and inequality.

Another general preliminary caution is the SpotCrime website, which collects crime data from police departments and verified news reports. 

Most Ohioans are under stress from the pandemic, so it’s no surprise to see the increase of crimes. However, you can lower your chances of becoming a victim of a crime by doing assessments on RateYourRisk and looking at websites like Citizen and SpotCrime.

If you or someone you know would like to report criminal activity, don't hesitate to contact 911.