Campus Security Authorities
The Clery Act classifies certain individuals as campus security authorities. Campus security authorities have specific responsibilities for reporting Clery crimes. A campus security authority as defined under the Clery Act is anyone who meets one or more of the following criteria:
- Any individual who works for the CSU Police Department in any capacity
- Any individual who does not work for the CSU Police Department, but has assigned responsibility for campus security in some other respect (for example, an individual who is responsible for monitoring the entrance into a university building, someone who works for a security service contracting with CSU, emergency responders employed by CSU, etc.)
- Any individual or organization specified by CSU as one to which students and employees should report criminal offenses. In addition to those in the CSU Police Department, employees in the Office of Title IX Programs and Gender Equity fall within this category
- A CSU official who has significant responsibility for student and campus activities, including, but not limited to, student housing, student discipline and campus judicial proceedings. An“official” is defined as any person who has the authority and the duty to take action or respond to particular issues on behalf of the institution. This definition is broad, but some examples of such individuals are:
- a dean of students or director who oversees student housing, the student center or student extracurricular activities
- a director of athletics, all athletic coaches (including part-time employees and graduate assistants)
- a faculty advisor to a student group
- a leader of study abroad trips or other overnight trips
- a student resident advisor or assistant
- a student or employee who monitors access to residence halls or buildings that are owned or controlled by CSU or a recognized student organization
- a coordinator of Fraternity and Sorority Life
- a Title IX coordinator
- the director of a campus health center
- victim advocates or others who are responsible for providing victims with advocacy services, such as assisting with housing relocation, disciplinary action or court cases, etc. (but victim advocates do not report the identities of victims to the CSU Police Department without the victim’s consent)
Because the definition of a campus security authority is quite broad, some employees who may be considered campus security authorities may not realize this fact. If you are involved in any aspect of campus security and safety, student affairs, or direct interaction with students as part of your assigned duties, you may be a campus security authority.
Each year the Clery Compliance Program Director will analyze and maintain a working document of all campus security authorities, adjusting as needed with the assistance of the Clery Compliance Committee and the university community.
Campus security authorities are required to:
- Take and pass the annual campus security authority online training.
- Report information of alleged crimes that are reported to them in good faith by others, as well as information of alleged crimes that they personally witness. Under the Clery Act, a crime is “reported” when it is brought to the attention of a campus security authority or local law enforcement personnel by a victim, witness, other third party, or even the offender. It doesn’t matter whether or not the individuals involved in the crime, or reporting the crime, are associated with the University.
- Record information about crimes reported to them. To record information about a crime reported, the campus security authority completes a crime statistic report form.
- Submit all completed campus security authority incident report forms for inclusion in the annual statistics.
For more information about campus security authorities, see http://clery.colostate.edu.