Annual crime and fire safety report preparation

The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act and the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 and additional revisions through 2016 require annual preparation and submission of the Campus Security and Fire Safety Report to the U.S. Department of Education. The purpose of this policy is to establish expectations and procedures for report compilation, preparation, and record keeping.

In compliance with Student Right-to-Know and Campus Security Act of 1990, Public Law 101-542 as amended into the Jeanne Clery Act of 1998, revisions of the Higher Education Reauthorization Act and additional revisions through 2016, it is the policy of Lynn University to prepare an Annual Security and Fire Safety Report (ASR) annually and revises its contents based on current federal regulations. The purpose of the report is to provide the campus community and general public with statistics for the previous three years concerning reported crimes that occurred on campus, in certain off-campus buildings, or property owned, leased, or controlled by Lynn University. The report also includes institutional policies concerning campus security, such as policies regarding sexual assault, alcohol and other drugs.

In addition, it is the policy of the university to retain the records included in the ASR for seven years from the latest publication of the ASR to which they apply. Support records must also be retained, including crime and fire logs. These records include, but are not limited to: incident reports and referrals for disciplinary action; timely warning and emergency notification reports; correspondences to and from local police, campus security authorities (CSA), and the Department of Education having to do with Clery Act compliance; copies of notices to students and employees about the availability of the ASR. All documentation will be dated.

Campus security authority— include campus safety personnel; individuals or organizations identified in the university's security policies; individuals with security-related responsibilities; and university employees that have significant responsibility for student and campus activities, and as such is trained by the university to report certain crimes occurring on campus or at a university sanctioned event to Campus Security for inclusion in the university’s annual security and fire report.

Unfounded reports—reports that have been fully investigated by sworn or commissioned law enforcement personnel who, based on the results of this full investigation and evidence, have made formal determination that the crime report is false or baseless. Recovery of stolen property, stolen property that is of low value, the refusal of a victim to cooperate with law enforcement or the failure to make an arrest do not justify classifying a report as ‘unfounded.’

Crime categories—

Criminal offenses— include criminal homicide, including murder and non-negligent manslaughter, and manslaughter by negligence; sexual assault (also referred to as sex offenses), including rape, fondling, incest and statutory rape; robbery; aggravated assault; burglary; motor vehicle theft; and arson.

Arson—Any willful or malicious burning or attempt to burn, with or without intent to defraud, a dwelling house, public building, motor vehicle or aircraft, personal property of another, etc.

Criminal homicide-manslaughter by negligence—The killing of another person through gross negligence.

Criminal homicide-murder and non-negligent manslaughter—The willful (non-negligent) killing of one human being by another.

Robbery—The taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody or control of a person or persons by force or threat of force or violence and/or by putting the victim in fear.

Aggravated assault—An unlawful attack by one person upon another for the purpose of inflicting severe or aggravated bodily injury. This type of assault usually is accompanied by the use of a weapon or by means likely to produce death or great bodily harm. (It is not necessary that injury result from an aggravated assault when a gun, knife, or other weapon is used which could and probably would result in serious personal injury if the crime were successfully completed.)

Burglary—The unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or a theft. For reporting purposes this definition includes: unlawful entry with intent to commit a larceny or felony; breaking and entering with intent to commit a larceny; housebreaking; safecracking; and all attempts to commit any of the aforementioned.

Motor vehicle theft—The theft or attempted theft of a motor vehicle. (Classify as motor vehicle theft all cases where automobiles are taken by persons not having lawful access even though the vehicles are later abandoned including joyriding.)

Sex offenses-forcible —Any sexual act directed against another person, forcibly and/or against that person’s will; or not forcibly or against the person's will, where the victim is incapable of giving consent.

1. Forcible rape - The carnal knowledge of a person, forcibly and/or against that person’s will; or not forcibly or against the person's will where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of his/her temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity (or because of his/her youth).
2. Forcible sodomy - Oral or anal sexual intercourse with another person, forcibly and/or against that person's will; or not forcibly against the person's will where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of his/her youth or because of his/her temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity.
3. Sexual assault with an object - The use of an object or instrument to unlawfully penetrate, however slightly, the genital or anal opening of the body of another person, forcibly and/or against that person’s will; or not forcibly or against the person’s will where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of his/her youth or because of his/her temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity.
4. Forcible fondling - The touching of the private body parts of another person for the purpose of sexual gratification, forcibly and/or against that person’s will; or, not forcibly or against the person’s will where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of his/her youth or because of his/her temporary or permanent mental incapacity.

Sex offenses-nonforcible—Unlawful, nonforcible sexual intercourse.

1. Incest - Nonforcible sexual intercourse between persons who are related to each other within the degrees wherein marriage is prohibited by law.
2. Statutory rape - Nonforcible sexual intercourse with a person who is under the statutory age of consent.

Hate crimes—offenses and crimes involving bodily injury reported to local police agencies or to a campus security authority that manifest evidence that the victim was intentionally selected because of the perpetrator’s bias or because the perpetrator perceived the person to be in one of the protected group categories. The protected group categories include: race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, disability, national origin, and gender identity. For Clery purposes, hate crime offenses and crimes also include any of the following offenses that are motivated by bias: Murder and Non-negligent manslaughter; 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.

Larceny-theft—the unlawful taking, carrying, leading or riding away of property from the possession or constructive possession of another.

Intimidation—to unlawfully place another person in reasonable fear of bodily harm through the use of threatening words and/or other conduct, but without displaying a weapon or subjecting the victim to actual physical attack.

Destruction/damage/vandalism of property—to willfully or maliciously destroy, damage, deface, or otherwise injure real or personal property without the consent of the owner or the person having custody or control of it.

Violence Against Women Act offenses—any incidents of domestic violence, dating violence and stalking. (Note that sexual assault is also a VAWA offense but is included in the criminal offenses category for Clery Act reporting purposes)

Dating violence—violence committed by a person who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim. The existence of such a relationship shall be determined based on the reporting party’s statement and with consideration of the length of the relationship, the type of relationship, and the frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship. Dating violence includes, but is not limited to, sexual or physical abuse or the threat of such abuse. Dating violence does not include acts covered under the definition of domestic violence.

Domestic and intimate partner violence—a felony or misdemeanor crime of violence committed by a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the victim, a person with whom the victim shares a child in common, a person who is cohabitating with, or has cohabitated with, the victim as a spouse or intimate partner, a person similarly situated to a spouse of the victim under the domestic or family violence laws, or by any other person against an adult or youth victim who is protected from that person’s acts under the domestic or family violence laws of the state.

Stalking—means engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to fear for the person’s safety or the safety of others; or suffer substantial emotional distress. Course of conduct means two or more acts, including, but not limited to, acts in which the stalker directly, indirectly, or through third parties, by any action, method, device, or means, follows, monitors, observes, surveils, threatens, or communicates to or about a person, or interferes with a person’s property. Substantial emotional distress means significant mental suffering or anguish that may, but does not necessarily require medical or other professional treatment or counseling.

Arrests and referrals for disciplinary action for weapons—Carrying, possessing, weapons law violations; drug abuse violations; and liquor law violations.

Drug abuse violations—the violation of laws prohibiting the production, distribution and/or use of certain controlled substances and the equipment or devices utilized in their preparation and/or use. The unlawful cultivation, manufacture, distribution, sale, purchase, use, possession, transportation or importation of any controlled drug or narcotic substance. Arrests for violations of state and local laws, specifically those relating to the unlawful possession, sale, use, growing, manufacturing and making of narcotic drugs.

Liquor law violations—the violation of state or local laws or ordinances prohibiting the manufacture, sale, purchase, transportation, possession or use of alcoholic beverages, not including driving under the influence and drunkenness.

Weapon law violations—the violation of laws or ordinances prohibiting the manufacture, sale, purchase, transportation, possession, concealment, or use of firearms, cutting instruments, explosives, incendiary devices or other deadly weapons. This classification encompasses weapons offenses that are regulatory in nature.

Definitions of geography

On-campus—(1) Any building or property owned or controlled by the university within the same reasonably contiguous geographic area and used by the university in direct support of, or in a manner related to, the university’s educational purposes, including residence halls; and Any building or property that is within or reasonably contiguous to paragraph (1) of this definition, that is owned by the university but controlled by another person, is frequently used by students, and supports institutional purposes (such as a food or other retail vendor).

Non-campus buildings or property—Any building or property owned or controlled by a student organization that is officially recognized by the university; or Any building or property owned or controlled by the university that is used in direct support of, or in relation to, the university’s educational purposes, is frequently used by students, and is not within the same reasonably contiguous geographic area of the university.

Public property—All public property, including thoroughfares, streets, sidewalks, and parking facilities, that is within the campus, or immediately adjacent to and accessible from the campus. Clery crimes occurring on public property as defined here will be included in the statistics report. The university’s crime statistics do not include, however, crimes that occur on privately owned homes or business within or adjacent to the campus boundaries.

I. Content of the annual security and fire safety report

The university’s ASR, at a minimum, will include the following content:

1. Policies regarding alcoholic beverages and underage drinking laws
2. Policies regarding illegal drugs and applicable federal and state drug laws
3. Programs on substance abuse
4. Programs to prevent dating violence, domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking, and the procedures institutions will follow when such crimes are reported
5. Information regarding sex offenders
6. Descriptions of emergency response and evacuation procedures
7. Policies regarding missing student notifications
8. Campus crime statistics*
9. Policies regarding procedures for reporting criminal actions or other emergencies on campus
   
10. Policies on security of and access to campus facilities
11. Policies on enforcement authority of security personnel; working relationship of campus security personnel with state and local police agencies; accurate and prompt reporting of crimes; pastoral and professional counselors
12. Programs on campus security procedures and practices

*The university will report to the Department of Education and disclose in its ASR statistics that include the total number of crime reports that were “unfounded” and subsequently withheld from its crime statistics during each of the three (3) most recently completed calendar years.

II. Record retention

It is the policy of Lynn University to retain the records included in the ASR for seven years from the latest publication of the ASR to which they apply. Support records must also be retained, including crime and fire logs. These records include, but are not limited to: incident reports and referrals for disciplinary action; timely warning and emergency notification reports; correspondences to and from local police, CSAs, and the Department of Education having to do with Clery Act compliance; copies of notices to students and employees about the availability of the ASR. All documentation must be dated.

III. Preparation and distribution of the annual security and fire report procedures

The Chief of Campus Safety collects data regarding crime and residence halls fire statistics and reviews the statistics with the Dean of Students on a monthly basis.

The statistics are drawn from the daily incident reports filed with Campus Safety, Department of Housing and Residence Life, and the Boca Raton Police Department.

The Chief of Campus Safety prepares a monthly report that is submitted to the Dean of Students.

The Annual Security and Fire Report policy statements are prepared and compiled by the Chief of Campus Safety, the Title IX Coordinator, Vice President for Student Affairs, Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Specialist, and Women’s Center Coordinator in accordance with federal guidelines and is distributed no later than October 1 of each year.

Statistics are submitted to the Department of Education via the Crime Statistics Survey.

The Annual Security and Fire Report is published to the university community, new students, prospective students, faculty and staff. The ASR is available at the Department of Campus Safety administrative office, the Campus Communication Center and on the university’s website. In addition, the websites for Employee Services and the Admissions departments will contain the exact wording below to inform prospective employees and students about the availability of the Annual Security and Fire Safety Report:

“Lynn University’s Annual Security and Fire Safety Report is available to all current employees and students, as well as prospective employees and students. This report includes statistics from the previous three years concerning reported crime that occurred on campus, in certain off-campus buildings or property owned or controlled by Lynn University and statistics for fires in on-campus student housing. The report also includes institutional policies concerning campus security and other safety information along with fire safety policies and procedures. You may obtain a hard copy of this report by contacting Campus Safety or by visiting the university website.”

To learn more about this policy or the supporting procedures, please contact Campus Safety.