CLERY ACT

Campus Security Authority Training

Dawn Smallwood

Chief of Police

Assistant VP for Campus Safety

The Jeanne Clery Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Disclosure Act

• Federal statue (20 USC 1092(f)) requires all colleges and universities that participate in Federal Title IV student financial aid programs to disclose campus crime statistics and security information.
• Compliance with the Clery Act falls under the mandate of the US Department of Education.

What is the Clery Act?

• Jeanne Clery was raped and murdered while asleep in her dorm room at Lehigh University in 1986. She was murdered by another student who had entered her dorm through three propped doors.
• Her parents discovered that there had been numerous reports of propped doors and there had been 38 violent crimes in the three years prior to her murder at Lehigh. Her parents believed Jeanne would have been more cautious if she had known about the other violent crimes at Lehigh.
• The law enacted in her memory is intended to ensure that students and other campus community members are informed about campus crime so they can make informed decisions. 

What Does Clery Require?

Institutions must:

• Collect, classify and count crime reports and submit statistics to the US Department of Education.
• Provide emergency notification and evacuation procedures.
• Issue a timely warning for any Clery Act crime that represents an ongoing threat to the safety of students or employees. (May issue a timely warning to non-Clery crimes)
• Issue an emergency notification upon the confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or employees occurring on the campus.  
• Publish an annual security report and fire safety report
  (by Oct 1 of each year) containing required safety and security-related policy statements and crime statistics for the previous three calendar years and distribute it or advise where to locate it electronically to all current students and employees. Schools also must inform prospective students and employees about the availability of the report.
• Inform the campus community where to obtain information about registered sex offenders
• Create, maintain and make available a crime log and fire log.

• The Department of Education recognizes students may be more inclined to report crimes to someone other than the campus police.
• For this reason, the Clery Act requires all institutions to collect crime reports from a variety of individuals and organizations that Clery considers to be "campus security authorities.”
• Data is collected from a wide variety of “campus security authorities” to provide the most accurate crime statistics possible.

Records Collection and Retention

• University Police must:
  • Keep records of crimes reported to campus security authorities
  • Make efforts to obtain certain crime statistics from other law enforcement agencies
  • Keep a daily crime log open for public inspection
  • Keep campus records & request records from other law   enforcement agencies

Campus Security Authorities

Officials of the institution with significant responsibility for student and campus activities (Vice Presidents, Deans, Directors, etc.), including but not limited to the areas of:

Who is NOT a Campus Security Authority?

You may have significant responsibility for Student and Campus Activities but YOU DO NOT HAVE TO REPORT IF:

• You are a licensed mental health counselor or a pastoral counselor (employed by a religious organization to provide confidential counseling) AND You are working within the scope of your license or religious assignment
• Student Health Center Clinicians who only provide care to individual students
• Counselors in the Counseling Center who only provide care to individual students

Campus Security Authority’s Primary Responsibility is…

• “To report allegations made in good faith to the reporting structure established by the institution.”
• In “good faith” means there is a reasonable basis for believing that the information is not simply rumor or hearsay. That is, there is little or no reason to doubt the validity of the information.
• If a campus security authority observes a crime/violation or receives the crime information and believes it was provided in good faith, he or she should document it by reporting to the University Police (2-3333), Student Affairs (2-6705), or Title lX (2-6280) as soon a practicable.
• What you must disclose, therefore, are statistics from reports of alleged criminal incidents. It is not necessary for the crime to have been investigated by the police or campus security authority, nor must a finding of guilt or responsibility be made to disclose the statistic.

In Your Role as a CSA, Please Remember

• To inform the University Police Department, Student Affairs or the Title lX office as soon as practicable about Clery reportable crimes or violations.
• University Police will make the final crime classification determination
• If in doubt or unsure, report it to the police 631-632-3333 or  2-3333 from any campus phone

What Crimes Must I Report?

• Criminal homicide – Murder/Non-negligent Manslaughter, Negligent Manslaughter

• Sex offenses – Rape, Fondling, Statutory Rape, and Incest
• Robbery
• Aggravated assault
• Burglary
• Motor vehicle theft
• Arson
• Hate crimes- Any Clery reportable offenses and any incidents of Larceny-Theft, Simple Assault, Intimidation, or Destruction, Damage, or Vandalism of Property that were motivated by bias based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, ethnicity, nation origin or disability.
• Arrests & disciplinary referrals for violations of liquor, drug, & weapons laws
• Dating Violence, Domestic Violence, Stalking (New Additions)

Dating Violence

• Dating Violence – The term “dating violence” means violence committed by a person who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim;
  • where the existence of such a relationship shall be determined based on a consideration of the following factors:

• • The length of the relationship
  • The type of relationship
  • The frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship

Domestic Violence

• Domestic Violence -The term “domestic violence” includes crimes of violence committed by
  • a current or former spouse of the victim, by a person with whom the victim shares a child in common, by a person who is cohabitating with or has cohabitated with the victim as a spouse, by a person similarly situated to a spouse of the victim under the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction, or by any other person against an adult or youth victim who is protected from that person’s acts under the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction.

Stalking

• Stalking – The term “stalking’ means engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to
  • fear for his or her safety or the safety of others; or
  • suffer substantial emotional distress.

Liquor, Drug, Weapon Law Violations

• Police must keep statistics on the number of people arrested for liquor, drug and weapon law violations.
• Residence Life and University Community Standards keep statistics on the number of people referred for disciplinary action for liquor, drug and weapon law violations.
• Statistics must reflect the total number of persons involved, not incidents.

Hazing

• Hazing’ means any intentional, knowing, or reckless act committed by a person (whether individually or in concert with other persons) against another person or persons regardless of the willingness of such other person or persons to participate, that—
  1. is committed in the course of an initiation into, an affiliation with, or the maintenance of membership in, a student organization; and
  2. causes or creates a risk, above the reasonable risk encountered in the course of participation in the institution of higher education or the organization (such as the physical preparation necessary for
  3. participation in an athletic team), of physical or psychological injury including
     1. whipping, beating, striking, electronic shocking, placing of a harmful substance on someone’s body, or similar activity;
     2. causing, coercing, or otherwise inducing sleep deprivation, exposure to the elements, confinement in a small space, extreme calisthenics, or other similar activity;
     3. causing, coercing, or otherwise inducing another person to consume food, liquid, alcohol, drugs, or other substances;
     4. causing, coercing, or otherwise inducing another person to perform sexual acts;
     5. any activity that places another person in reasonable fear of bodily harm through the use of threatening words or conduct;
     6. any activity against another person that includes a criminal violation of local, State, Tribal, or Federal law; and
     7. any activity that induces, causes, or requires another person to perform a duty or task that involves a criminal violation of local, State, Tribal, or Federal law.

Where Did it Happen?

• A crime must be reported if it occurred:
  • On campus main and satellite (i.e. Southampton, Manhattan, SUNY Korea)
  • Non-campus building or property (i.e. Tech Park, Calverton)
  • Public property on/or immediately adjacent to campus and easily accessible from campus (i.e. 25A, Nicholls Road)

Stony Brook Clery Geography

What is “On Campus”?

• Owned or controlled by the institution within the same reasonably contiguous geographic area and used to meet or support the institutions educational purposes
  • Residence Halls (also a subset category)
  • Administrative Buildings
  • Academic Buildings
  • Food and Retail Vendors

What is “Non-campus”?

• Any building or property not part of the main campus nor a satellite campus and is:
  • Owned or controlled by the institution
  • Used in support or in relation to the institution’s educational purposes
  • Frequently used by students
  • Not within the same reasonably contiguous geographic area of the institution
  • Owned or controlled by a student organization that is officially recognized by the institution

What is “Public Property”?

• All public property that is within the campus, or immediately adjacent to and accessible from the campus
  • Thoroughfares
  • Streets
  • Sidewalks
  • Public parking facilities
• Private homes and businesses are not included

Three Part Test

1. Is the crime a Clery reportable crime?
2. Did the crime occur in a Clery reportable geographic area?
3. Was the crime previously reported to University Police?

If you answered YES to Question #1 and #2 and NO to Question #3, then you must notify University Police about the incident.

Examples of Reportable Crimes

• A coach is required to report a sexual assault that is reported to him/her…
• A person working as an access monitor is required to report a burglary that is reported to him/her while working the desk…
• A RA is told by a female student that she was forcibly raped by an unidentified male while jogging along a campus trail…
• The Director of Athletics is required to report a rape that was reported to him/her by the parent of a victim involving one of his/her athletes who may be the perpetrator…
• A professor is required to report that a student reported to them that they were being physically abused by their intimate dating partner

Rights of Reporting Individual

• “You have the right to make a report to university police or campus security, local law enforcement, and/or state police or choose not to report;
• To report the incident to you institution;
• To be protected by the institution from retaliation for reporting an incident; and,
• To receive assistance and resources from your institution.”

NY Education Law, Section 6444(2)

Confidentiality vs. Privacy

• “Confidentiality” may be offered by an individual who is not required by law to report known incidents of sexual assault or other crimes to institution officials, in a manner consistent with state and federal law, including but not limited to 20 U.S.C. 1092(f) and 20 U.S.C. 1681(a). Licensed mental health counselors, medical providers and pastoral counselors are examples of institution employees who may offer confidentiality.
• “Privacy” may be offered by an individual when such individual is unable to offer confidentiality under the law but shall still not disclose information learned from a reporting individual or bystander to a crime or incident more than necessary to comply with this and other applicable laws, including informing appropriate institution officials.

N.Y. Educ. Law § 6439

• Members may offer “privacy,” but may not promise confidentiality to reporting individuals

Retaliation

• Retaliation is prohibited against any participant in the reporting process
• Failure to properly report a covered incident may result in discipline

Possible University Sanctions for Noncompliance

• A suspension or limiting of the institution’s Title IV funding.
• The Department of Education can issue civil fines up to $69,733 per violation.
• Final Review Determination Reports are public record.
• Failure to comply with the Clery Act can be used in court to demonstrate an indifference to security issues during a premises security liability litigation.

Questions

Any questions regarding the content of this power point presentation can be directed to:

campus_csa@stonybrook.edu

All other inquiries can be directed to:

Hrs_info@stonybrook.edu