Security Challenges

Several months ago, the U.S. Department of Education released an updated version of The Handbook for Campus Safety and Security Reporting. One of the topics covered in the handbook is instructions regarding how organizations can successfully implement the Jeanne Clery Act.

The Jeanne Clery Act – which was passed in 1990 – requires all universities and colleges which receive federal funding to track and report information regarding crime on campus, as well as efforts that are put in place to improve campus security. The law is named for Jeanne Clery, a 19-year-old freshman attending Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. In 1986, she was raped and murdered in her campus residence hall by another student. After the murder, it was revealed that there had been more than 35 other violent crimes reported at the school within the prior three years. Her parents sued the university, arguing that had they known about the university’s crime record, their daughter would never have attended the school. They were awarded $2 million in damages.

The law requires that all schools submit their annual security report by October 1 each year to both current and prospective students. The report must contain the following:

• Prior three years of campus crime statistics;
• Description of all crime prevention programs established by the school;
• Policy regarding safety and security measurements provided; and
• Required procedures in alleged sexual offense investigations and prosecutions.

The Clery Act also requires the school’s security or campus police departments to keep an up-to-date log of all crimes which have been reported. Each incident report must include the type of incident, date, time, and location. The log must have at least the most recent 60 days’ worth of reports and request for any incidents which were reported prior must be provided within two days of the request. All schools must have a record of the past eight years’ worth of crime statistics on site (beginning in 2012).

Each institution is also required to have a procedure in place to provide timely warnings to students and others on campus of any crimes which present a threat to everyone’s safety.

Providing a safe and secure environment – whether it is a college campus, hospital, industry, or any other organization – can be challenging with all the different types of threats to safety that exist today. Emergency Film Group offers many training programs which can assist organizations in that training.