Although every institution wants its campus community to report criminal incidents to law enforcement, we know that this does not always happen. Even at institutions with a police department on campus, a student who is the victim of a crime may be more inclined to report it to someone other than the campus police. For this reason, the Clery Act requires all institutions to collect crime reports from a variety of individuals and organizations that Clery considers to be campus security authorities, or CSA’s.
A campus security authority is an official of an institution who has significant responsibility for student and campus activities, including, but not limited to, student housing, student discipline and campus judicial proceedings. An official is defined as any person who has the authority and the duty to take action or respond to particular issues on behalf of the institution. If a campus security authority receives crime information and believes it was provided in good faith, he or she should document it as a crime report.
Because official responsibilities and job titles vary significantly on campuses, the Department of Education does not list specific titles. To determine specifically which individuals or organizations are campus security authorities at UMKC, consider the function of that individual or office. Look for officials (i.e., not support staff) whose functions involve relationships with students. If someone has significant responsibility for student and campus activities, he or she is a campus security authority. Note that whether or not your institution pays an individual is not a factor in determining whether that individual can be a CSA.
Under the provisions of the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, a crime is "reported" when the activity is brought to the attention of a campus security authority by a victim, witness, other third party or even the offender.
The function of a campus security authority is to report statistical Clery Act crimes that he or she concludes were made in good faith. The report should be made to the official or office designated by the institution to collect crime report information, such as the campus Clery coordinator.
Click here to complete your CSA training
Questions about training assignment or content: Contact Clery Coordinator umkcpd@umkc.edu
As a campus security authority, if you have received allegations of Clery Act crimes which you believe were not reported to the campus police and believe they were made in good faith, we ask that you complete and return the appropriate statistical crime report as outlined in the form below.
Campus Security Authority Crime Report for Crimes and Hate Crimes (docx)
