Clery Compliance Part 2: Emergency Response, Notification Guidelines

Under the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) of 2008, which went into effect this July, colleges and universities have new rules relating to emergency response, emergency notification, missing student notification, fire safety reporting and hate crime reporting. This special section will help your campus meet these requirements


Burglaries Must Meet These 3 Conditions

Beginning with the statistics due for calendar year 2009 and due by October of 2010, the U.S. Department of Education is changing how burglary must be reported under the Clery Act. In order to be reportable as a burglary, an incident of missing or stolen property must now meet three conditions:

1. Evidence of unlawful entry (trespass), which may be either forcible or not involve force.

2. Unlawful entry must be of a structure – having four walls, a roof, and a door.

3. Must show evidence that the entry was made in order to commit a felony or theft.

Previously, under guidance provided in 2005’s Handbook for Campus Crime Reporting, if it were unknown who took an item and “if the investigating officer has exhausted all avenues leading towards the offense of Larceny-Theft” then the incident was to be classified as a burglary. The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting program has since reversed this guidance, meaning there must be evidence of unlawful entry – it can’t be assumed.

Institutions should only use this guidance for 2009 and forward as the previous guidance was still in effect for prior years.


Range of Test Options Under the Clery Act

  • A drill is a coordinated, supervised exercise activity, normally used to test a single specific operation or function. With a drill, there is no attempt to coordinate organizations or fully activate the Emergency Operations Center (EOC).
  • A tabletop exercise is a facilitated analysis of an emergency situation in an informal, stress-free environment. It is designed to elicit constructive discussion as participants examine and resolve problems based on existing operational plans and identify where those plans need to be refined.
  • A functional exercise is a fully simulated interactive exercise that tests the capability of an organization to respond to a simulated event. The exercise tests multiple functions of the organization’s operational plan. It is a coordinated response to a situation in a time-pressured, realistic simulation.
  • A full-scale exercise simulates a real event as closely as possible. It is an exercise designed to evaluate the operational capability of emergency management systems in a highly stressful environment that simulates actual response conditions. To accomplish this realism, it requires the mobilization and actual movement of emergency personnel, equipment and resources. Ideally, the full-scale exercise should test and evaluate most functions of the emergency management plan or operational plan.

Source: Federal Emergency Management Agency


Related Articles:

Clery Compliance Part 1: Missing Student Guidelines

Hate Crime Reporting Requirements

Fire Incident Reporting Requirements

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