Software Can Keep You Clery Compliant
Keeping accurate and up-to-date Clery reports can be both challenging and time consuming. A records management software with customizable fields and easy report generation could help your campus overcome these issues.
Some software solutions allow users to access full incident reports through the daily log.
Users access full incident reports through the daily log in NaviGate. Depending on a user’s role and level of access, different information will be displayed in the log.
“Every user has their own account,” Porter explains. “There are some places we automate for them, where we tie into a human resources system, and there’s some that just manage it themselves. It really just depends on the size of the campus or the college.”
Who Hosts the Data is Important
Campuses looking to implement records management software will need to decide how to host the data.
CESI offers two options: Report Exec Enterprise, which is hosted by the college, and Report Exec Direct, which “uses the software as a service model, where we host the data for them,” explains Kehoe.
Opting to have your software provider host your data is a cost-effective option, says Thrower.
“They store all of the information for us, and we don’t have to worry about the cost of the maintenance of the servers. We don’t have to worry about the backups,” he explains. “It’s a secure network, so I don’t have to worry about someone trying to tap into it.” < /p>
Web-based software like NaviGate allows users to access data on any device with a browser. Lauren Innovations hosts that data on its servers.
“We do redundant back up between the two servers and real time failover as well,” Porter says. “So in the event that a server would go down, all of the traffic is routed to the other server and the information is contained on both, so there is a real time redundancy between our two data centers that are separated by a couple thousand miles.”
If You’re Still Unsure
If you are still in doubt when it comes to counting Clery crimes on your campus, it might be time to contact the U.S. Department of Education.
“There are three pages of federal legislation, and we’re up to about 120 some pages of interpretations,” says Ray Thrower, director of campus safety for Gustavus Adolphus College. “So if you’re not sure, contact the Department of Education and make sure that you get what they tell you in writing.”
Resources for crime reporting at schools can be found on the U.S. Department of Education’s Web site.
Users Need Training
You’ve selected your software. Now, are your security personnel able to properly use it?
“My officers were up and running the [Report Exec] software within about 15 of training,” says Ray Thrower, director of campus safety for Gustavus Adolphus College.
CESI offers several levels of training for its users:
- Web training. ”[This training] is conducted over the web. It’s really more for specific needs, for instance, if you want to address certain modules,” says Nick Kehoe, CESI sales and marketing manager.
- Onsite training. “We offer onsite training for a more hands on approach,” says Kehoe. “We’ll actually come onto the site and analyze the way you’re doing things.”
- Open classes. CESI offers train the trainer classes and open classes for end users.
Lauren Innovations offers two training options:
- Administrator level training. “This training is for the people who are doing the back end setup [in the program],” says Chris Porter, Lauren Innovations’ technical product manager. “It’s usually conducted via WebEx.”
- End user training. “This is basically a video-based course that shows them how to use the dispatch module, how to create an incident or how to follow up on an incident — and that’s at the dispatcher level, the reporter level or the supervisor level.”
Components of a Daily Crime Log
A daily crime log is an integral part of your records management software. Using this log, your campus officers should do the following:
- Record crimes committed within the campus security department’s jurisdiction and within Clery geography
- Log these crimes within two business days of receiving the information
- Have a paper backup in case the electronic log cannot be accessed
- Make more than one officer or staff member responsible for log maintenance
- Include the nature of the crime, case number, date/time reported, date/time occurred, general location and disposition of the complaint
- Be sure to ask local law enforcement to alert campus security to crimes committed within your geography.
Source: The U.S. Department of Education
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