Oxford Police Expect Certain Crimes to Increase in Summer

OPD Officers conduct training exercises along Anderson Road. Photo by Ashley Muller.

Even with many Ole Miss students going home for the summer, the Oxford Police Department (OPD) doesn’t get much of a break. Their job does change slightly, however, as different crimes become more common after students leave campus in May.

According to Lieutenant Chris Case, with warmer weather comes an increase in auto crimes.

“Well, ya know, more people are outside, so we have more outdoor crimes. Like auto burglaries increase, they pick up quite a bit,” says Case.

Fortunately, OPD was there for Ole Miss student Paige Reese when she was a victim of auto theft last year.

“Last year, when I was living at the Hub, I walked outside and my car was literally not there, and I freaked out and called the cops, and luckily I only put a little bit of gas in there, so they drove it to Memphis and ditched it on the side of the road. I got really lucky,” says Reese.

But not everybody is that lucky. According to the OPD website, in June and July of last year, more than 2,000 crimes were reported. Lieutenant Case says car burglaries are a significant part of that number, but they don’t have to be.

“Not so much as busting the window out of a car, but most of the auto burglaries we have here in Oxford are unlocked cars. They go around checking door handles, they open your car and get whatever’s in your car that they can take.”

Police recommend that you always keep your car locked, keep valuable possessions out of sight, and most of all, be aware of your surroundings.

According to OPD’s statistics, Oxford is actually a low crime area compared to other places in Mississippi. The website boasts that Oxford’s overall crime rate is four percent lower than the state as a whole. The numbers are even better for violent crime, with Oxford’s crime rate coming in 48 percent lower than the average rate of crime in Mississippi and 61 percent lower than the rest of the nation.

Story Contributed by Ashley Muller and Madalyn Bierster.