T-shirts sold by local Ann Arbor vendors have affectionately dubbed the city "three square miles surrounded by reality."
But crime is one aspect of "reality" that even Ann Arbor residents cannot escape. Especially with the size of the area's population totaling more than 110,000 people.
Keeping crimes at a minimum is a struggle the Department of Public Safety continuously fights, and the community is apparently making some progress.
"I think (crime) has gone down," said DPS Patrol Captain Terry Seames. "Looking at the stats, '97 is far below those of '96 as far as dispatches go."
The numbers are still higher than some other peer institutions because of the large size of the University, including the medical complex and the football stadium, both of which contribute to crime, Seames said.
But many students say they feel relatively safe on campus.
"I wouldn't consider Ann Arbor dangerous by any stretch of the imagination," said Law student Paula Osborne. "Typical city crime - you don't have to worry about here."
Osborne said she feels far safer now than she did a few years ago, when a rapist was on the loose in Ann Arbor.
According to a recent University study, members of the University community feel safer than they did in 1989.
"I've heard of a few incidents, but I feel relatively safe," said Rackham student Betty Peeples. "Besides, I always try to be careful."
Dropping from 62 percent in 1989, the University study showed that 54 percent of those surveyed are afraid to walk alone at night.
The University provides several nighttime services to accompany students home, including Safewalk, Northwalk, Niteowl, and free taxi service from the Undergraduate Library.
Still, some students take a chance.
"If you come home late at night and it's dark, it poses a threat to safety," Peeples said. "But to me, I might as well walk rather than wait there."
Seames urges students to never walk alone at night, but rather to utilize the programs and to always be careful.
"I probably take more liberties than I should," Osborne said. "I usually don't walk alone really late at night, but if I'm at the library and it's only about midnight, I don't call Safewalk."
Seames said there are almost always police officers patrolling the streets and the several DPS offices are spread across campus.
The most prevalent crimes on campus are thefts, he said.
"We're continuing to try to curtail that, but we need everyone's help," Seames said. "The only way to decrease the numbers is educating students in preventing thefts."
He said a lot of students forget to lock the doors to their dorm rooms or leave their property unattended in various areas, such as library carrels or computing sites.