Campus Security Authorities
What is a Campus Security Authorities (CSA)?
Campus Security Authority (CSA) is a Clery Act specific term. CSAs provide crime statistics for the annual security report (ASR). The Clery Act describes a crime as "reported" when it is brought to the attention of a CSA by a victim, witness, or third party, including the offender. Alleged crimes reported to CSAs are then reported by them to the designated individual or office required to collect such reports. The office designated at KU Medical Center is the Department of Public Safety/University Police or the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX. CSAs can file the required notice by documenting and submitting it on the Campus Security Authority Reporting Form. If you need assistance or have questions, please contact the Clery Compliance personnel at cleryact@ku.edu.
What are the duties of a CSA?
CSAs are responsible for reporting all allegations of crimes specified in the Clery Act that are reported to them. If the CSA receives crime information and believes it was provided in good faith (reasonable basis for believing the information), he or she should document it as a crime report and submit the report online using the Campus Security Authority Reporting Form. The CSA is not responsible for determining authoritatively whether the crime took place, CSAs are also not responsible for attempting to apprehend an alleged perpetrator of a crime (unless trained to do so). If a victim doesn’t want the report to go any further than the CSA, the CSA should explain that they are required to submit the report for statistical purposes and can be submitted without identifying the victim. However, they may note that crimes can be reported to the police anonymously.
What information does a CSA need to report?
Required
- CSA Contact Information such as name, phone number, and email address. We must document that a designated CSA is reporting the incident, and we may need to follow-up with the CSA if we need to clarify or ask for additional information.
- Date the incident was reported to the CSA.
- Which campus the incident took place.
- Where the incident occurred: On-Campus; On-Campus Student Housing Facility; Non-Campus building or property; or Public Property.
- The alleged crime. NOTE: The Clery Act requires that we document attempted crimes as well.
- Brief description of the incident summarizing the information above.
Optional if Available
CSA’s are not required to provide personally identifying information. However, CSA crime reports are encouraged to include personally identifying information, if available. This is important for law enforcement purposes and to avoid double counting crimes. If a victim doesn’t want the report to go any further than the CSA, you should explain that you are required to submit the report for statistical purposes, but it can be submitted without identifying the victim.
- Date the incident occurred.
- Involved parties such as victim, witness, third party reporter, and suspect.
- Supporting documentation such as photo, video, email, text messages, etc.
Timely submission of reports by CSAs is very important. If a crime is reported to a CSA, but goes no farther than that, KU Medical Center will be unable to fully meet its obligations under the law. Moreover, the campus community may lack information that could help them to stay safe. CSAs must know their role and be trained in understanding the Clery Act, why they have been designated as a CSA, and what is required of them as CSAs. This training should occur at least annually or as often as necessary.
Note: Crimes in progress should be reported immediately to the University Police by dialing 911 from any campus phone or 913-588-5030 from cell phones.
Who is a CSA?
Because official responsibilities and job titles vary significantly on campuses, an all-inclusive list of specific titles and positions is not provided in the regulations. To determine specifically which individuals or organizations are CSAs, we consider the function of that individual or office.
Individuals may be designated as CSAs based on whether they perform the following functions:
- Their official job responsibilities involve significant interaction with students and/or campus activities;
- They serve as informal or unofficial mentors to students;
- They serve as a member in an office or of a committee to whom students are instructed and informed to report or discuss crimes, allegations, of crimes, and other troubling situations; and/or
- They have oversight for or involvement in disciplinary procedures.
University Police and Security – All security and police members of the University Department of Public Safety, including all sworn law enforcement officers, are Campus Security Authorities.
Individuals with Campus Security Responsibilities – Any individuals who have responsibility for campus security but who do not constitute a campus police department or a campus security department, such as an individual who is responsible for monitoring entrance into institutional property. Examples of this category are: parking enforcement staff, event security staff and front desk staff to buildings that monitor entrance.
Officials of the institution with significant responsibility for student and campus activities, including, but not limited to, student housing, student discipline and campus judicial proceedings.
- “Official” is defined as any person who has the authority and duty to take action and respond to particular issues on behalf of the institution.
Individuals Designated by the Campus – Any individual or organization specified in an institution's statement of campus security policy as one to which students and employees should report criminal offenses.
Examples of CSAs include, but are not limited to:
- Campus Police or Security.
- Student Housing (including Resident Assistants).
- Student Conduct.
- Director of Athletics.
- Athletic Coaches.
- Athletic Trainers.
- Student Organization Advisors.
- Title IX Coordinator.
- Study Abroad Coordinators.
- Human Resources.
- Victim Advocates.