Though the State College Police Department could not cite a specific cause, the number of rapes and sexual assaults off campus decreased between 2003 and 2004.

Penn State Police, however, reported a significant increase from 2003 to 2004 in the number of sexual assaults.

Penn State Police statistics also showed an increase in sexual assaults from nine in 2003 to 12 in 2004.

"There is always a [yearly] fluctuation ... without explanation," Penn State Police Supervisor Dwight Smith said.

But State College Police statistics showed that the number of rapes and sexual assaults decreased off campus from 48 in 2003 to 33 in 2004.

State College Police Sgt. Mark Argiro said the department began a program to increase security downtown, but could not determine whether the decrease in sexual assaults was a result of the program.

"Our department started [the program] in February and March of 2004 ... to increase the foot patrol downtown by our officers," he said. "It would be tempting to attribute a reduction to those programs."

Argiro said conclusions could not be drawn from the data without assessing other factors, such as the impact of the security programs downtown. He added that 2003 may have been an anomaly because the number of rapes in 2002 was seven, which increased to 22 in 2003, yet decreased to 11 in 2004.

Center for Women Students director Peggy Lorah said the number of sexual assaults is difficult to determine because "the majority of them go unreported."

"The number that we've seen over time is larger than the number reported to the police," she said. "I think we are all trying to raise awareness ... to get the word out to students."

Both departments reported a similar trend for liquor law violations both on and off campus. According to University Police statistics, there was about a 20 percent increase in liquor violations from 446 in 2003 to 537 in 2004.

Smith said he was concerned about the increase, but didn't know if it was an "ongoing trend."

The period from September to December accounted for a majority of the increase in liquor violations as the number increased from 195 violations in 2003 to 270 violations in 2004.

Smith said a number of factors might have caused the increase in liquor violations in fall 2004, such as the weather, Bryce Jordan Center events and the times of football games.

"In general, the later the game, the better the weather, the more alcohol offenses we're going to have," Smith said.

Smith said on-campus liquor violations are primarily underage drinking. He added that the increase was not because of a change in operations.

According to State College Police Department statistics, the number of liquor violations also decreased, including selling or furnishing liquor to a minor and carrying false ID.

State College Police reported 685 liquor law violations in 2003 and 625 in 2004.

State College Police Sgt. Dana Leonard said the Source Investigation Project (SIP) and "heightened awareness" could account for the drop in number of offenses.

Leonard said SIP, a program that targets the sources of alcohol for underage drinking, is designed to combat furnishing alcohol to minors.

"We're looking for people to change their behavior and reduce incidences of dangerous drinking," Leonard said.