Timely Warnings & Sexual Assault: Building an Effective and Consistent Approach Abigail Boyer | Clery Center Joseph Storch |
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Timely Warnings & Sexual Assault: Building an Effective and Consistent Approach Abigail Boyer | Clery Center Joseph Storch | SUNY System The Clery Center Jeanne Clery Act: A History Changing the Landscape • History of Campus Safety • Connie & Howard Clery • Parents • Co-founders, Security On Campus (SOC) • Legislation (state, federal) • Advocacy • Awareness raising • Impact Agenda •Timely Warning & Emergency Notification Overview • Mythbusting • Lesson Learned: Program Reviews • Activity Timely Warning Overview Background Knowledge On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your understanding of the requirements of the Jeanne Clery Act specific to timely warnings? 1-2: Novice 3-4: Some familiarity 5-6: Competence 7-8: Mastery 9-10: Expert Jeanne Clery Act: Overview Annual Security Report •Policy statements •Campus crime statistics •Campus Sexual Assault Victims’ Bill of Rights Ongoing Disclosures •Emergency notification •Timely warning •Public crime log U.S. Department of Education (ED) Enforces Jeanne Clery Act: Overview Violence Against Women Act Clery Act Crimes Amendments to the Clery Act • Homicide •Dating Violence •Sex Offenses •Domestic Violence • Robbery • Stalking •Aggravated Assault • Burglary Arrests & Disciplinary Referrals •Motor Vehicle Theft •Liquor law violations • Arson •Drug law violations •Hate crimes •Illegal weapons possession Who is a CSA? •Officials with significant responsibility for student and campus activities •A campus police or a campus security department • Individuals or offices designated to receive crime reports •Individuals who have responsibility for campus security Examples of CSAs •Professional staff in a dean of •Student activities staff students office (including •Faculty or staff advisors leaders in student to student organizations affairs/housing) •Resident Assistants •Staff in student center building • Coaches Violence Against Women Act Amendments to Clery March 7, 2013 March January 2014 – April October 20, 2014 July 1, 2015 President Obama signed the Negotiated ED published the Final regulations Violence Against Women rule-making fnal regulations became effective Reauthorization Act, which for the VAWA amended the Clery Act to amendments to Clery include dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking Current Landscape 2013 VAWA Student Activism Amendments to Clery & Media Scrutiny Title IX White House & OCR Guidance Task Force Timely Warning Policy Overview •What are timely warnings • How to alert the campus • What information to be included • Decision to alert • Exempt cases (privileged communications) Timely Warnings & Emergency Notifications •Two methods of notifying college community about events that impact their safety. •Significant technical and policy differences. •Significant policies/bureaucracy required to implement. •Technical compliance matters (see Virginia Tech program review). Handbook Chapter 6, page 97 Timely Warnings Policy Components A timely warning policy should address the following components: • Circumstances that trigger a warning • Who issues • Dissemination process/channel Circumstances That Trigger Warnings? ✓ ® Clery Act crimes •Included in annual statistics ✓ ® Reported to CSA or local law enforcement ✓ ® Occurred in the specified geographic areas: • On-campus •Public property • Non-campus ✓ ® Represents a serious or continuing threat • Students • Employees Timely Warnings Case by case basis considering all facts surrounding occurrence of a crime, including: •Nature of the crime; •Whether the crime presents a continuing danger to the campus community; and •Risk of compromising law enforcement efforts. When you issue: •No mandated format; distribute in a manner that gets the word out quickly (active, not passive). •Include in warning information to enable community members to protect themselves. Decision To Issue A Warning •Specify Who Is Responsible •Individual (Title) • Department/Office •Consultation Process •Open Communication •Case-By-Case Basis Timely Warning Dissemination Process •Must be quick (timely) •As soon as pertinent information is available • Community-wide •Likely to reach the entire campus community •Aid in the prevention of similar crimes •Specify methods •SMS text messaging •E-mail, social media • Posters •Other methods and/or combination of methods Timely Warning Include •Information that promotes safety •Allows individuals to protect themselves •Time, location and type of crime •Must not identify a victim; May identify a perpetrator or suspect •Some items to consider Exempt Cases •Crimes Reported to: •Pastoral or professional counselor •Privileged Information Protected by State Law: •Medical doctor • Attorney/client Emergency Notification Institutions must: •Have an emergency notification policy; •Test it at least annually; •Assess the results of the test; and •Publicize the system and policy. •If issue emergency notification, need not issue timely warning. Handbook Pages 97-110 Emergency Notification •An emergency notification is “required to immediately notify the campus community upon confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or employees occurring on campus.” •Issue an emergency response notification upon confirmation of an immediate or impending threat to the welfare of the campus community (confirmation does not mean all pertinent details are yet known). •No prescribed manner or language provided it is complete, accurate and easy to understand (active, not passive). Emergency Notification Policy/Procedures Include: •Procedures institution will use to immediately notify campus upon confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving immediate threat to health or safety of students or employees occurring on the campus. •Description of the process institution will use to •Confirm existence of significant emergency or dangerous situation •Determine appropriate segment or segments community to receive notification •Determine content of the notification •Initiate notification system Emergency Notification •Statement that institution will determine content of notification and initiate system: •Without delay •Taking into account safety of community •Unless issuing notification will compromise emergency response efforts (mandatory statement per Handbook page 102) •List titles of those responsible for emergency response notification process •Institution’s procedures for disseminating emergency response information to larger community •Institutional procedures to test the emergency response and evacuation procedures on annual basis and publish test results (specifics in Handbook p. 106-110). Timely Warning/ Emergency Notification Timely Warning •Narrow in scope – Clery Act crimes only (minimally). •Crimes that occurred in past but constitute ongoing threat. •Anywhere on your Clery geography. •To be issued as soon as pertinent information available. Emergency Notifications •Wide focus – any emergency. •Currently occurring emergencies or ones that pose imminent threat to campus community. •On Campus property only. •To be issued upon confirmation of a dangerous actual or threatened situation. Compliance Tips •Assign tasks, and reflect those assignments in Clery policy statements. •Avoid arrangements that require higher level approval to issue warnings. •Train supervisory staff to issue warnings/notifications in the absence of command staff. •Document steps you take. •Test the systems at least annually. Timely Warnings Myths •MYTH: You must issue a timely warning for every sexual assault • MYTH: You must include the location of the assault in that warning • MYTH: You must include the details of the case (referral to law enforcement) • MYTH: You do not need to include consultations in your policy (e.g. President’s Office, Communications) Findings •“Failure to Comply with the Timely Warning Requirement” • “Lack of Adequate Policy Statements” Common themes: • Distribution of warnings • Proper coordination of CSAs • Consideration of whether to issue awarning • Incomplete policy statement (even if policy or practice exists) “Annie” •Annie discloses to her tennis coach that she was raped by several members of the basketball team in a room in the student center after a game •She states that she had attended the game intoxicated and was blacking out and could not consent to any of the forced sex acts upon her. •Annie is in a sociology class with several other basketball players, none of whom she believed were involved in the sexual assault. •Annie goes to her academic advisor to report that the players who are in her class are mocking her about an assault that she reported and she feels uncomfortable and unsafe. She states that she doesn’t know what to do. •Over the next three weeks, two additional students report sexual assaults by members of the basketball team, only able to name one of the multiple players. Both students report that the attacks happened on a campus building, one in a room in the athletic center and one in the student center. Timely Warning • Would you issue a warning for this case? When and why or why not? • If you select to issue a warning, draft it. • If you select not to issue a warning, document why. Timely Warning University Police Issue Timely Warning University of XXX Police Receive Report of a Sexual Assault On the morning of February 3, 2014 the University xxx Police received a report from a female tennis player that she was sexually assaulted by a group of student-athletes. The student has requested to not proceed