Helen Haire is the Chief of Police and Director of Public Safety for the University of Northern Iowa. Last week she was able to talk to our class and discuss her responsibilities especially related to the Jeanne Clery Act that was passed by Congress in 1990. The act goes into depth what university campus police departments must report and later issue in university crime statistics. I found it very interesting how many ruled needed to be followed by officers under this act, and that the act can vary from the Iowa Code of Law. Helen even told the class that the information shared was a very brief overview of the act, and I was in awe of all the information shared in such a short amount of time.
The first aspect of the act that Helen explained was the geography. “If you look at the foot print campus, its the streets that run through campus but are owned by the city,” Helen explained. The act can get as picky as what sidewalks are and are not covered. The four categories that the act lists under coverage include-on campus, residential housing, public property, and non-campus. Non-campus would include fraternity and sorority houses since they are university mandated. Another aspect of geography is the fact that the Helen has to monitor crime reporting’s from other countries. Her example in class involved the university band taking a trip to Europe; it is her responsibility to contact the local police department and ask if any crimes were reported during the band’s stay. This can get tricky however because the police departments in other countries are not required to give out information since they are not tied to United States laws.
Helen then went into explaining how the Clery Act defines certain crimes that usually very from how the Iowa Code of Law would define them. “You look at this list and you’re gonna tell me that you have a good idea of what they mean, but I’m gonna tell you, you don’t,” Helen stated as she showed us a list of the acts major offenses. The list of offenses including-murder, rape, arson, burglary, robbery, assault-are all compiled statistically by the department. I found the differences between the acts definitions of offenses and the Iowa Code of Law astounding. “Under state criminal code, there is such a thing as burglary of a vehicle, but Clery does not define a vehicle as an enclosed area for a burglary,” was one of the examples Helen made in regards to the differences in definitions.
Next, Helen discussed dating violence and stalking: both of which are difficult to define and score in a report. Dating violence has to be dealt with based on if one party states that the two are a couple even if the other denies it. “It really pisses me off when people come in when some of it is so junior high,” Helen explained. She has to score and report even the most minor incident that students report which gets time consuming and useless. “If somebody ever says leave them alone, leave them alone.”
At the end of the discussion, Helen informed us that all universities have to release an Annual Security Report by October 1st with no exceptions. The report is public and often helps parents/students decide which college is the safest to attend. As an institution, UNI strives to provide a safe environment for students, but students also have to do their part in making sure that the campus remains safe. The UNI Police Department is here to help us students no matter the circumstances.
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