Clery Act

Columbus State University is committed to the safety and well-being of all members of the University community. Colleges and universities that receive Title IV funding must comply with the requirements set forth in the Clery Act, 34 CFR Part 668 & 20 USC § 1092(f), and Georgia State laws in furtherance of providing a safe and secure learning and work environment for students and employees, that being said, the University encourages every member of the community to report any criminal activity to the University Police Department. The University Police Department is responsible for gathering, to include reports from multiple local law enforcement agencies, and sorting all reportable statistics for the Annual Fire Safety and Security Report (AFSSR) from all on-campus and adjacent to, or within campus locations for the daily crime log, annual crime statistics and timely warnings.

Collection

At the end of each Clery quarter the Clery Coordinator will send an email, as a reminder, to all on the Clery Committee letting them know that it is time for them to submit Clery statistics from their respective department to the Clery Coordinator. The request is sent out approximately seven days before the Clery statistics are due reminding all recipients to submit the statistics to the University Police Department and the Clery Compliance Coordinator. In addition to the emails that will be sent, during the quarterly meetings the committee will also be informed. The Clery spreadsheet is accessible for each on the committee to add their statistics as well.

The email recipients includes but is not limited to the:

• Assistant Dean of Students
• Assistant Director of Athletics
• Chief of Police (UPD)
• Director of Resident Life
• Title IX Compliance Coordinator

Count

• Once the statistics have been received, they are then compared with any University Police Department (UPD) reports to ensure they are not counted twice. All UPD reports are read through to ensure that the reports that should be included in Clery statistics are accounted for and documented. Reports from UPD that are Clery reportable are printed and if there is a Maxient correlating report, they are also printed and stapled together. The Maxient number is written on the UPD report and UPD’s case number is written on the Maxient report.
• Statistics received from the departments are also compared with the Maxient reporting system. This ensures there are not any duplicates being counted for offenses received from the various areas.
• The Maxient system is also referred to by having all reported Clery offenses retrieved. In order to ensure all incidents are documented, all Maxient reports which have categories assigned to them that fit Clery reportable incidents, are read through. Once this is done, they are then compared against reports and statistics received from all departments to make sure that none have been missed
• For reports in which there are no duplicates they are also printed and the number of statistics are identified. Per Clery: Referred for disciplinary action is defined as the referral of any person to any official who initiates a disciplinary action of which a record is established and which may result in the imposition of a sanction.

Classify

• Once all reports have been printed, from there they are added to the Clery spreadsheet. The Clery 2016 handbook is utilized for identifying Clery reportable offenses and definitions. The spreadsheet contains all of the Clery offenses which fits the definitions for:
  • Criminal Offenses
    • Criminal Homicide, including
      • Murder and Non-negligent Manslaughter, and
    • Manslaughter by Negligence;
    • Sexual Assault, including
      • Rape
      • Fondling
      • Incest and
      • Statutory Rape;
    • Robbery;
    • Aggravated Assault;
    • Burglary;
    • Motor Vehicle Theft; and
    • Arson
• Hate Crimes
• Any of the above-mentioned offenses, and any incidents of
  • Larceny
  • Theft
  • Simple Assault,
  • Intimidation,
  • or Destruction/Damage/Vandalism of Property that were motivated by bias;
• VAWA Offenses
  • Any incidents of Domestic Violence
  • Dating Violence
  • Stalking. (Note that Sexual Assault is also a VAWA Offense but is included in the Criminal Offenses category for Clery Act reporting purposes); and
• Arrests and Referrals for Disciplinary Action for
  • Weapons
    • Carrying, Possessing, Etc. Law Violations
• Drug Abuse Violations and
• Liquor Law Violations
  • Per Clery: Referred for disciplinary action is defined as the referral of any person to any official who initiates a disciplinary action of which a record is established and which may result in the imposition of a sanction.
• The statistics that meet the Clery offenses by definition and within Clery geography are then added them on to the spreadsheet.
• A double check is performed by going back through a second time and make sure that everything has been accounted for with UPD, Maxient and stats from the departments.
• All UPD reports have an additional note placed on the report which states, “This incident has been reviewed and should be counted as (offense listed & count) for the Clery stats for (year indicated) at the (campus location).”
• In addition reports are documented and located on UPD’s electronic daily crime log.
• All incidents (received from multiple departments) which are Clery reportable are printed, filed and placed on the electronic Clery spreadsheet to be retained for seven years.

The Clery Committee Chair and Assistant Committee Chair approve the collection, counting and classification of statistics quarterly, and the entire committee approves them annually.