Jan. 4, 2013 — Morehead State University’s Police Department has been recognized by StateUniversity.com as ranking first in Kentucky for Highest Safety Rating.
“We are very pleased,” said Madonna Weathers, vice president for student life. “Chief (Matt) Sparks and his entire staff should be commended for the great job they are doing.”
MSUPD had a 92.56 rating. Northern Kentucky University (92.15) was second, followed by Western Kentucky (91.57), University of Louisville (88.46) and Murray State University (87.38). Rounding out the state universities were Eastern Kentucky University (87.65), University of Kentucky (81.65) and Kentucky State University (64.94).
StateUniversity.com, a leading Web site for college information, released the rankings of the safest colleges and universities in the U.S. The Safest Schools findings are based on incidents of campus crime as reported by campus safety officials.
As part of the Safest Schools ranking, the site analyzed crime statistics for 450 colleges and universities and assigned a safety rating to each school. Safety ratings are determined by the number of occurrences of aggravated assault, robbery, burglary, theft/larceny, motor vehicle theft, forcible rape, and murder on campus.
Violent crime is given more weight in the ranking system and has a greater effect on the safety rating than non-violent crime such as theft.
“Our whole unit works hard every day to keep Morehead State safe,” said Sparks. “We are very proud of this accomplishment. We have great support from the MSU administration and it shows in a ranking like this.”
The department is under its third, five-year certificate of accreditation by the Kentucky Association of Chiefs of Police.
MSUPD has 16 full-time officers and 10 support staff.
To view the rankings visit www.stateuniversity.com/rank_by_state/safety_score_rank/KY.html.
Additional information on the MSUPD is available by calling Sparks at 606-783-2035.
