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Clery Act

The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (the Clery Act) is a federal consumer protection law that requires institutions of higher education participating in the federal student financial aid program to disclose information about certain crime on campus, in or on buildings/property owned or controlled by the university, and on publicly owned property within or immediately adjacent to the campus.

Under the Clery Act universities must:

  • Collect, classify, and count Clery Act crime report and statistics.
  • Publish an Annual Security Report and Fire Safety Report by October 1st of each year. The report must be made available to all current and prospective students and employees.
  • Issue campus alerts: Timely Warnings and Emergency Notifications:
    • Timely warnings alert the campus community of Clery Act crimes that pose a serious or ongoing threat to the campus community.
    • Emergency notifications inform the campus community upon confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation occurring on campus that involves an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or employees.
  • Have missing student notification policies and procedures in place for students who reside in on-campus housing.
  • Maintain a Daily Crime Log of reported criminal incidents that is open to public inspection.
  • Submit Clery Act crime statistics (and fire statistics related to on-campus student housing facilities) to the U.S. Department of Education.
  • Provide educational programs and campaigns to promote the awareness of dating violence, domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. 

Annual Security Report & Fire Safety Report

Contained within the Annual Security Report & Fire Safety Report are three years’ worth of statistics for certain types of crimes that were reported to have occurred on campus, in off-campus buildings or property owned or controlled by the university, or on public property within or immediately adjacent to the campus.  In addition to the crime data the TCU Police Department maintains, the statistics contained in the Annual Security Report & Fire Safety Report include crimes that are reported to various campus security authorities and local law enforcement.  The statistics reported for the categories on liquor laws, drug laws, and weapons offenses represent the number of individuals arrested or referred to campus judicial authorities for respective violations.  The report also includes statements addressing the university's policies, procedures and programs concerning safety, crime prevention, fire safety, and security - for example, policies for responding to emergency situations and sexual offenses.  

The TCU Police Department prepares this report in cooperation with the Fort Worth Police Department, federal and state agencies, and any other law enforcement jurisdiction that has taken action on our campus.  Crime statistics reported to designated officials, including but not limited to officials with significant responsibility for student and campus activities and law enforcement agencies with jurisdiction over all reportable university properties, are included in this report.   Additionally, TCU Housing and Residence Life, Title IX Office, Department of Public Safety, Office of Compliance, Dean of Students Office, and the Division of Student Affairs contribute to the preparation of this report.  Each entity provides updated information on their educational efforts and programs to comply with the Clery Act. 

The Annual Security Report & Fire Safety Report for Texas Christian University is available on the TCU Police Department website at https://police.tcu.edu/annual-security-report.  You may also request a paper copy from the TCU Police Department by calling 817-257-7930, via email at police@tcu.edu, or in person at the TCU Police Department located at 3025 Lubbock Ave, Fort Worth, TX 76129. 

Campus Security Authorities

A Campus Security Authority (CSA), who by virtue of their university responsibilities and under the Clery Act, is designated to receive and report criminal incidents to the TCU Police Department so they may be included and published in the university's Annual Security Report & Fire Safety Report. CSA is Clery-specific term that encompasses four groups of individuals and organizations associated with an institution:

  • A campus police department or a campus security department of an institution (e.g., any member of the TCU Police Department);
  • Any individuals who have responsibility for campus security but are not members of a campus police department or a campus security department;
  • Any individual or organization specified in an institution's statement of campus security policy as an individual or organization to which students and employees should report criminal offenses; or
  • An official of an institution who has significant responsibility for student and campus activities, including but not limited to, student housing, student discipline and campus judicial proceedings. 

Under the Clery Act, the function of a CSA is to report to the TCU Police Department any allegations of Clery Act crimes that the CSA receives. CSAs are responsible for reporting allegations of Clery Act crimes that are reported to them in their capacity as a CSA. This means that CSAs are not responsible for investigating or reporting incidents that they overhear students talking about in a hallway conversation; that a classmate or student mentions during an in-class discussion; that a victim mentions during a speech, workshop, or any other form of group presentation; or that the CSA otherwise learns about in an indirect manner.

Reporting Form: To report a Clery Act crime reported to them, CSAs should submit a  Campus Security Authority Incident Reporting Form.

Training: All individuals designated as CSAs by the University are required to complete an annual online training. The training provides a broad overview of the Clery Act, along with an understanding of TCU's obligations under the law, your reporting requirements as a CSA, and the procedures for reporting allegations of crime. All CSAs at TCU will receive email notification regarding this designation and training requirement from the Office of Compliance.  
Questions regarding the role and responsibilities of a CSA and/or the required online training should be directed to the TCU Police Department at (817) 257-8400 or the Office of Compliance at (817) 257-5520/askcompliance@tcu.edu.

Clery Act Crimes - Reportable Offenses
The Clery Act requires institutions to disclose crimes within four major categories: Criminal Offenses, Hate Crimes, Arrests and Referrals, and VAWA Offenses.

CRIMINAL OFFENSES
Criminal Homicide
Murder/Nonnegligent Manslaughter: the willful (nonnegligent) killing of one human being by another. This offense does not include traffic fatalities, suicides, accidental deaths, or justifiable homicide as defined by law.
Manslaughter by Negligence: the killing of another person through gross negligence

Sexual Assault (Sex Offenses)
Rape: penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim, including instances where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of their age or because of their temporary or permanent mental incapacity.
Fondling: the touching of the private body parts of another person for the purpose of sexual gratification without the consent of the victim, including instances where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of their age or because of their temporary or permanent mental incapacity.
Incest: nonforcible sexual intercourse between persons who are related to each other within the degrees wherein marriage is prohibited by law.
Statutory Rape: nonforcible sexual intercourse with a person who is under the statutory age of consent.

Other Criminal Offenses
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 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 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 a serious potential injury if the crime were 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 the intent to commit a larceny; house-breaking; safecracking; and all attempts to commit any of the aforementioned.
Motor Vehicle Theft: the theft or attempted theft of a motor vehicle including incidents where a vehicle is taken by a person not having lawful access even though the vehicle is later abandoned (i.e., "joyriding"). 
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. Arson includes incidents where an individual willfully or maliciously burns their own property. Accidental fires such as a cooking fire are not included in this offense.

HATE CRIMES
Any incidents of larceny (theft), simple assault, intimidation, destruction/damage/vandalism of property, and other Clery Act crimes that are motivated in whole or in part by an offender's bias toward race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, and/or disability.

Larceny (Theft): the unlawful taking, carrying, leading, or riding away of property from the possession or constructive possession of another.
Simple Assault: the unlawful physical attack by one person upon another where neither the offender displays a weapon, nor the victim suffers obvious severe or aggravated bodily injury involving apparent broken bones, loss of teeth, possible internal injury, severe laceration, or loss of consciousness.
Intimidation: is 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: 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.

ARRESTS and REFERRALS for DISCIPLINARY ACTION
Under the Clery Act institutions must also report arrests and referrals for disciplinary action for liquor law violations, drug law violations, and weapons law violations.

Liquor Law Violations: violation of state or local laws or ordinances prohibiting the manufacture, sale, purchase, transportation, possession, or use of alcoholic beverages.
Drug Law Violations: violation of state or local laws or ordinances 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.
Weapons 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.

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ACT (VAWA) OFFENSES
It is a requirement of the Clery Act to report the following VAWA offenses:

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 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 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 of the jurisdiction in which the crime of violence occurred; or
  • 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 jurisdiction in which the crime of violence occurred.

Stalking: 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.
  • Reasonable person means a reasonable person under similar circumstances and with similar identities to the victim.
  • Substantial emotional distress means significant mental suffering or anguish that may, but does not necessarily, require medical or other professional treatment or counseling.

Clery Geography

The Clery Act requires institutions to disclose statistics for Clery Act crimes that occur (1) on campus, (2) on public property within or immediately adjacent to the campus, and (3) in or on noncampus buildings or property that the institution owns or controls. 

View the TCU Clery Geography Map