Clery

Yes!  Reporting is Supporting. Submit a completed report form when a student or employee discloses ANY crime to you. 

If you are in doubt whether an incident is reportable, please err on the side of reporting the matter.  Do not hesitate to complete a report based upon whether you believe the crime was  Clery reportable— that decision is made later by the compliance officer.

Link to Report Form

Some things to consider:

• Try to get as much information as you can from the reporting party, this includes the date, time and location of the crime.
• This reporting process is designed to gather information regarding incidents of crime. If the reporting party would like to speak the WCU Police or file a police report, contact Public Safety at 610-436-3512. 
• Do not get hung up on issues of geography or reportability— your collection of information is the most important part of this process

Once your report is submitted, the Clery Compliance Officer will evaluate the report and make a determination whether it is a Clery-reportable crime. 

• On-Campus inside a Residence Hall
• On-Campus NOT inside a Residence Hall (i.e. any area outdoors on campus, or in an academic, administrative or other campus building)
• Non-Campus (Off-Campus University-owned or controlled) this includes property owned or controlled by fraternities/sororities, study abroad, and short stay-away trips)
• Public Property (Within or immediately adjacent to campus)

To view a map of West Chester University's campus you can click here. The map allows you to click on a building and see the building's address and its function.

There are four categories of Clery Act Crimes: Criminal Offenses, Hate Crimes, the VAWA crimes , and Arrests or Referrals for Alcohol, Drug and Weapons Law violations.

Criminal Offenses

The Clery Act requires crimes meeting following definitions be disclosed

Criminal Homicide

• Murder/Nonnegligent Manslaughter: the willful (nonnegligent) killing of one human being by another
• Manslaughter by Negligence: the killing of another person through gross negligence

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. This definition also includes instances in which the victim is incapable of giving consent because of temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity (including due to the influence of drugs or alcohol) or because of age. Physical resistance is not required on the part of the victim to demonstrate lack of consent. 
• 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 or physical 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 Crimes

• 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 intent to commit a larceny; housebreaking; safecracking; and all attempts to commit any of the aforementioned.
• 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 or violence and/or by putting the victim in fear.*
• 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 (Motor vehicles include golf carts and e-scooters.)
• 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.

Hate Crimes

A hate crime is a committed criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity. Any of the previous crimes listed and the following additional crimes must be reported as hate crimes if motivated by such a bias:

•  Theft: the unlawful taking, carrying, leading, or riding away of property from the possession or constructive possession of another.
• Simple Assault: an 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: 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, injure, disfigure, or deface any public or private property, real or personal, without the consent of the owner or person having custody or control by cutting, tearing, breaking, marking, painting, drawing, covering with filth, or any other such means as may be specified by local law.

 

VAWA (Violence Against Women Act) offenses

It is a requirement of the Clery Act to report the following offenses, even if the victim does not consider themselves a victim:

• • 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 the 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 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 to 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.

Arrest or Referral for Disciplinary Action (Student Conduct) for violations of law concerning:

• • Weapons: 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. 
  • Drugs: violation of laws prohibiting the production, distribution, and/or use of certain controlled substances and the equipment or devices utilized in their preparation and/or use. 
  • Alcohol: violation of laws or ordinances prohibiting the manufacture, sale, purchase, transportation, possession, or use of alcoholic beverages.
    • This definition EXCLUDES Public Drunkenness and DUI.