Reports show that liquor law violations reported to the MU Police Department dropped from 126 violations in 2008 to 76 in 2010. On the surface, it looks like MU is becoming a healthier and safer environment.

But simultaneously, drug violations are up, an increase from 98 violations reported to MUPD in 2008 to 124 last year.

Maybe fewer people are violating liquor laws, but with drug arrests on the rise, it’s safe to assume that’s not true. Under federal law, police are required to report only the highest offense, which means situations in which someone has abused both alcohol and drugs will only be reported as a drug violation.

Who are we kidding to believe that fewer students are drinking?

The police need to stop skewing data, and something needs to be changed so that all violations are reported. We can’t skew the data to the point of lying about the decreasing rates of alcohol abuse.

It’s not fair to give people a false sense of security. It’s not fair to prospective students and their families, who choose MU because they think it is becoming a safer college campus. It’s not fair to our law enforcement, who have to work in an environment that is being misreported to appear safer. And it’s not fair to us as students, who are suffering as members of the MU community because we can’t be accurately informed of the issues that surround the place we live, work and learn.

The Wellness Resource Center and MUPD have both done a great job in keeping our community safe through education and enforcement. But their work would be more effective if it were more obvious that drug and possibly alcohol abuse is on the incline.

Reducing alcohol abuse requires proper knowledge of how to consume responsibly. But that’s impossible until we stop masking alcohol under other, greater problems and confront the fact that alcohol consumption is still a serious issue on this campus.