By Jim Hayes
The Volunteer State Community College Police Department had a very quiet 2018 according to the department’s 2019 Annual Security Report (ASR).
The ASR is a federally mandated report submitted to the federal government each year detailing the number of 20 specific crimes which occurred on college campuses.
The four Vol State campuses were nearly crime free in 2018 according to the report. Just seven incidents, all on the Gallatin campus, made this year’s report.
By comparison, last year, the Vol State Police Department reported 14 incidents in 2017, 10 on the Gallatin campus and four on the Livingston campus.
Most of this year’s offenses (five) occurred on the public property surrounding the Gallatin campus. The other two were on the campus itself.
Of the five off campus incidents, four were drug arrests and one was the theft of a vehicle. The two on-campus arrests were for drug law violations.
The ASR is issued each year to comply with the Clery Act which requires college campuses to publish their crime policy and statistics.
Under the act, campuses must disclose crime statistics, issue campus alerts to inform the campus community about issues which may impact their health or safety.
It also requires that programs and campaigns to promote awareness of dating and domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking. Those programs focus on prevention and awareness.
The ASR also contains information regarding procedures victims of dating or domestic violence, stalking or sexual assault should follow.
Institutional disciplinary procedures for those committing those crimes are also part of the report.
In addition to the SAR, the campus must submit crime statistics to the U.S. Department of Education.
The department must also publish a daily crime log of alleged criminal incidents which is open to public inspection.
The Clery Act was enacted in response to the rape and murder of 19-year-old Lehigh University student Jeanne Clery in 1986.
Clery’s parents believed that, had she known about violent crimes in the area, she would have been more cautious.
According to the SAR, only four percent of colleges and universities reported campus crime to the FBI before the law was enacted.
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