What is a CSA?
A Campus Security Authority (CSA) may be a student, employee, volunteer, or an individual contracted by the University who is mandated to report certain crimes. CSAs are required to report Clery Act qualifying crimes which occurred on campus, in public areas bordering campus and in certain non-campus buildings owned or controlled (leased) by the University. CSAs should only report those crimes that have not been previously reported to Campus Police or another University CSA. The intent of including non-law enforcement personnel in the CSA role is to acknowledge that some community members and students, in particular, may be hesitant about reporting crimes to the police, but may be more inclined to report incidents to other campus-affiliated individuals.
What makes you a CSA?
The law defines four categories of CSAs:
- Campus Police Department sworn personnel and department administrators.
- Non-police people of offices responsible for campus security. These CSAs have security presence or access control authority on university property.
- The Officials with significant responsibility for student and campus activities category is defined broadly to ensure complete coverage and thorough reporting of crimes. To determine which individuals or organizations are CSAs consider job functions that involve relationships with students. Look for Officials (i.e., not support staff) whose functions involve relationships with students. 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 University. If someone has significant responsibility for student and campus activities, s/he is a CSA. Some examples of CSAs in this category include, but are not limited to: deans, student affairs professionals, student housing staff, athletic director/assistant directors, coaches, student activities coordinators, student judicial officers, and faculty/staff advisors to student organizations.
- Any individual or organization specified in an institution’s statement of campus security policy as an individual or organization to which students and employees should report criminal offenses – Campus Police.
Who is not a CSA?
The following non-CSA positions/functions include but are not limited to: administrative staff members who are not responsible for students, clerical staff, individual faculty with no student activity duties outside the classroom, or counselors in the Counseling Center who only provide care to individual students.
CSA Crime Reporting
CSAs are encouraged to report all crimes reported to them, on a timely basis, to Campus police. However, under the Clery Act, only Clery Act qualifying crimes are required to be reported. The CSA Crime Reporting Form is submitted to the Campus Police Department online.
If the reported crime is made in good faith, meaning that there is reasonable basis for believing that the information is not mere rumor, then the crime is Clery reportable. CSAs, when interacting with the crime reporting party, need to gather incident information that would provide sufficient detail to properly classify the incident. This means CSAs need to document reporting party responses or lack thereof. Reporting party identifying information should only be included in the Report Form if the reporting party is willing to provide the information. CSAs should not investigate the crime or attempt to determine whether a crime, in fact, took place. When in doubt, a Report Form should be completed and submitted!
To report an incident on the UIS campus please fill out the Clery CSA Reporting Form A.
To document that NO Clery Act crimes were reported to you in the applicable calendar year please fill out the Clery CSA Reporting Form B. This form must be completed after December 31st in order to include the entire reporting period.