In accordance to federal law, the Division of Public Safety is requesting for employees and students to report undocumented crimes for the Clery Act.

The act was put into place after the rape and murder of 19-year-old college student Jeanne Clery in her dormitory. Clery’s parents believed the university had failed to share vital information with the student population regarding campus safety, and demanded legislative reform in 1986.

Four years after their daughter’s death, they were able to establish The Student Right to Know and Campus Security Act of 1990 which required colleges and universities to report campus crime policies and statistics. The act was renamed the Clery act in 1998.

Colleges and universities must report offenses that occur on campus, in residential facilities, on non-campus property and on public property. Such crimes that must be reported include:

• murder/manslaughter
• sex offenses
• robbery
• aggravated assault
• domestic and dating violence
• liquor law violations
• drug violations and illegal weapons possession.

Clery Compliance Coordinator Rebecca Rhinehart said in an email that crimes that have occurred on campus in 2018 that were not reported to the police department should be reported no later than June 1, 2019.

The reporter of the incident should provide the date and location of the incident, as well as brief description of the incident so that it may be appropriately classified in accordance with the crime definitions published by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program.

Rhinehart also stated in the email that serious crimes that may cause an ongoing threat to the campus community is reported to anyone on campus should be reported as soon as possible.

“If a serious crime that may cause an ongoing threat to the campus community is reported to anyone on campus, you should not wait until the end of the year to report that incident to the police department,” Rhinehart said in the email. “Our institution has a responsibility to notify the campus community about any crimes that pose an ongoing threat to the community.”

Those who have questions about this request or you would like to discuss the specifics about an incident may contact Rhinehart at 912-344-3205.

These concerns may also be directed to Public Safety Chief Laura McCullough at 912-478-5234.

Clery Act 2017 in review

According to the 2017 Clery Act, incidents reports in most areas have increased compared to the 2015 and 2016 reports.

There were eight incidents of rape in 2017 compared to the four incidents in 2015 and three incidents in 2016.

Incidents of aggravated assault increased from two incidents in 2015 and 2016 to five in 2017.

Murder/Manslaughter and Manslaughter by Negligence had zero incidents in 2015 – 2017.

Incidents reported through the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act decreased slightly in all areas except sexual assault, which had eight incidents in 2017, compared to seven in the 2015 and 2016 reports.

Drug and alcohol reports fluctuated compared to previous reports but were overall slightly lower.

There were no Hate Crimes on the Georgia Southern Statesboro campus in 2015, 2016 or 2017.

Public safety keeps a Timely Warnings log that reports on and off-campus incidents on the Georgia Southern and Armstrong campuses.

Crimes reported in the Statesboro can also be tracked on CrimeReports.

Shiann Sivell, The George-Anne Enterprise Reporter, gaeditor@georgiasouthern.edu