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Category: Governance/Legal
Title: Timely Warning (Crime Alert) Policy
Approved By: Clery Working Group
Date Approved: July 2014
History: Revised July 2016
Related Policies: Civil Rights Policy
Responsible Official: Campus Safety
Timely Warning (Crime Alert) Notices
Purpose
The purpose of this policy is to outline procedures The Claremont Colleges (TCC), will use to issue Timely Warning Notices in compliance with the Clery Act. TCC are comprised of, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont McKenna College, Harvey Mudd College, Keck Graduate Institute, Pitzer College, Pomona College, and Scripps College in concert with the Claremont University Consortium (CUC).
Procedures
A Timely Warning Notice will be issued in the event any of TCC or the CUC receives notice of an alleged Clery Act reportable crime (identified below) occurring on campus, on public property within or immediately adjacent to one of the campuses of TCC, or in or on non-campus buildings or property controlled by any of TCCs, where the College determines, in its judgment, that the allegations present a serious or continuing threat to the TCC community. For purposes of this policy, “timely” means as soon as reasonably practicable, after an incident has been reported to: the CUC Campus Safety, one of the Campus Security Authorities (CSAs) identified by each College, or a local police agency. The CUC Director of Campus Safety or in his/her absence or unavailability, his/her designee (generally the Operations Lieutenant or on-duty Sergeant), and the Dean on-call or the Senior Administrator on-call (as designated by each of the Colleges), impacted by the reported crime, are responsible for determining whether to issue a Timely Warning Notice.
Whether to issue a Timely Warning Notice is determined on a case-by-case basis for Clery Act reportable crimes: arson, criminal homicide, burglary, robbery, sex offenses, aggravated assault, motor vehicle theft, domestic violence, dating violence, stalking and hate crimes, as defined by the Clery Act.[1] Timely Warning Notices also may be issued for other crimes as determined necessary by the Director of Campus Safety, Dean on-call or Senior Administrator on-call. CUC/TCC will issue a Timely Warning Notice even if insufficient information is available if it is likely that there is an ongoing threat to the community.
The above individuals determine if an alert should be sent and are the senders of the notices. In determining whether to issue a Timely Warning Notice, the responsible individuals described above will consider any factors reflecting on whether the reported crime represents a serious or continuing threat to the TCC community, including, but not limited to, (a) the nature of the incident; (b) when and where the incident occurred; (c) the continuing danger to the TCC community; (d) the amount of information known by TCC and CUC Campus Safety; and (e) when it was reported (as incidents reported more than 10 days after the fact will generally not result in a Timely Warning Notice unless the other factors weigh in favor of sending a Notice). TCC will follow its Emergency Notification procedures upon the confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation (including a Clery report-able crime), involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or employees occurring on TCC.
The attached Timely Warning Notice Decision Matrix/Timely Warning Notice Determination Form will be used in the decision making process to document the decision to alert or not to alert the community. Once completed the form and any and all information related to the decision will be maintained by TCC for a seven year period.
Timely Warning Notices (Crime Alerts) will be distributed in various ways. A multi-modal integrated communications system for mass notifications is used to notify students and employees by way of e-mail, text messages and phone. Information will be provided on the CUC Campus Safety website, Claremont Mckenna College website, and alerts posted on bulletin boards throughout TCC. The particular circumstances will determine the method of notification. Generally, notification will occur through the e-mail system to all TCC students and employees.
The Timely Warning Notice will typically include, to the extent known, the date, time and nature of the offense, a brief overview of its particular circumstances, a physical description of the actor(s), law enforcement’s immediate actions, a request and method for witnesses to contact local law enforcement and where applicable and appropriate, cautionary advice that would promote safety. In no instance will a Timely Warning Notice include the name of the victim or other identifying information about the victim. In developing the content of the Timely Warning Notice, CUC Campus Safety will take all reasonable efforts not to compromise on-going law enforcement efforts. CUC Campus Safety will document and retain the justification for determining whether to issue a Timely Warning Notice for a seven year period.
Anyone with information about a serious crime or incident is encouraged to report the circumstances to the CUC Campus Safety by phone at 909-607-2000 or from campus phones at ext. 72000 and in person at 150 E. Eighth Street. If a report is made to other TCC official, those officials will immediately notify CUC Campus Safety.
[1] A hate crime is a criminal offense of murder and non-negligent murder, forcible sex offenses, non-forcible sex offenses, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, motor vehicle theft, arson, larceny-theft, simple assault, intimidation, destruction/damage/vandalism of property, domestic violence, dating violence, or stalking incidents, where the criminal offense was committed against a person or property which is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender’s bias. Bias is a preformed negative opinion or attitude toward a group of persons based on their race, gender, gender identity, religion, disability, sexual orientation or ethnicity/national origin.
For questions or future updates, please contact Cynthia Keller, Clery Compliance Coordinator, at 909-621-8114 or ckeller@cmc.edu.
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