By Calvin Dimmig, News Section Editor
Students on Daemen Campus: have you ever received a Campus Incident or Safety report in your school email? Did you click on it, briefly read and move on? Robert Mead-Colegrove, assistant dean for Campus Safety and Operations, wishes you to handle these emails differently.
“We cannot disregard these emails. They are there to keep everyone safe,” said Mead-Colgrove to the Daemen Insight.
So, what is in these emails, and what is the importance behind them?
These emails consist of reports from the Campus’s Daily Crime and Fire log. The log is updated daily with any incident from negligible to critical. The majority of these incidents are drug referrals involving alcohol or marijuana use. A smaller minority consists of dating abuse, sexual assault, and other violent acts.
“A report is sometimes written if there is a leak or fire alarm goes off in the building. There is one for when a student goes to WellNow. There’s one when a student leaves a backpack in the parking lot,” Mead-Colgrove said regarding the reasons for writing these incident reports.
These incident reports include a reason for reaching out, a short description of the events, an identification of the suspect, and the tasks undertaken by Campus Safety Officers to ensure the peace is protected.
Daemen students are also dedicated to ensuring peace on campus. The student-run, volunteer organization Daemen Campus Rescue Squad (DCRS) provides emergency medical services to the Daemen University campus community. The 18 members of DCRS are committed to students, faculty, visitors, and guests, providing timely and professional emergency medical services in accordance with the Incident Command System (ICS). The DCRS members are trained to utilize the residence hall first aid kits and respond in a swift fashion.
DCRS is a Basic Life Support First Response Agency (BLS-FR) run by the New York State Department of Health.
But why does Daemen University maintain a Campus Daily Crime and Fire log?
The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security and Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, also known simply as the Clery Act, is a federal statute requiring all federally funded colleges and universities to report campus (and surrounding campus area) crime data, support victims of violence, and publicly outline the policies and procedures in place to improve campus safety.
An email is sent by Robert Mead-Colegrove at the beginning of every year to students about the campus safety logs. The fire and safety logs can be accessed here.
According to the Clery Center, there are four distinct crime categories. Criminal offenses (assault, burglary, motor vehicle theft, etc.), hate crimes, VAWA (Violence Against Women Act) offenses, and arrests/referrals for disciplinary action are the four categories of criminal activity under the Clery Act.
These are all reportable offenses when committed on campus, on public property within or adjacent to the campus, and on non-campus buildings and property owned by the organization used for educational purposes.
If you are a victim or a bystander to a crime, contact Campus Safety at 716-839-SAFE (7233) or campuslife@daemen.edu. To remain committed to crime prevention on the Daemen Campus, download the Alertus Mobile Blue Phone app. The organization code is “Daemen” and the pin is 4380. The Alertus Mobile Blue Phone App works only with a valid Daemen email address.
If you are a parent or family member of a student on campus and wish to receive alerts on these incident reports, sign up for Emergency Alerts with Campus Safety.