Be informed about crime on your child's campus in Texas and elsewhere

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Along with the pomp and the circumstance of your child leaving for college, there is a little life thrown in. Sometimes that means crime. Many college campuses are just like small cities. Burglary, theft and even sexual assault can be a reality.

Now you can't surround your child in bubble-wrap as you send him off to school or be armed to the teeth while you and your valedictorian are researching college campuses, but you can, and should, be aware of the crime that happens on campus -- just like everywhere else.

Here's a website that shows you crime stats for every campus in the US.

It's put together by the US Department of Education, Just pop in the campus you're interested in, and you can get the stats.

You can search of state, city and type of college, too.

Check out individual campuses by clicking here.

Click on this page for more data, such as downloading information on groups of campuses and more.

Because of the data-gathering process, the information can be from a year ago or more. If you want more recent crime information, use the phone numbers on the top of each of of the web pages showing the college's crime stats so you call the college's top security officer and get the latest figures.

They have to. It's the law.

But be aware. That's good crime prevention.

If you have any information on this topic or you think there is something the abc13 investigative team should look into, send investigative producer Trent Seibert a message on Twitter at @trentseibert or shoot him an email at seibert.trent@abc.com.

As always, abc13 is here for you.