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The mission of the Moravian College Office of Campus Safety and Police is to promote a safe and well-ordered environment for students, faculty, staff, and other members of our community by extending care and assistance, by overseeing the physical surroundings, and, when necessary, by enforcing laws and regulations, all carried out in a compassionate manner hallmarked by the values of respect, integrity, service, and excellence.
The campus police are responsible for protecting life and property, preventing and detecting crime on campus, and providing essential safety services to the College community. Their presence eliminates the necessity of depending upon outside agencies for public safety services, but the Campus Safety and Police Office works closely with area law enforcement agencies and fire departments.
Campus police officers are commissioned in accordance with the Pennsylvania Municipal Police Officers Training Act (Act 120) and have full law enforcement authority in and upon all property owned, occupied, or used by the College. Campus police officers enforce the laws and regulations of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, ordinances of the City of Bethlehem, and the rules and policies of Moravian College.
Campus police officers patrol the campus on foot and in marked cars to ensure the safety of the College community. A police dog may accompany officers at times. Continual in-service training provides for professional delivery of law enforcement services.
The Campus Safety and Police Office offers crime prevention programs, including RAD (rape defense); an engraving service for property registration; and an escort service. It also supervises and regulates parking.
Timely Notification
The Clery Act (Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act) requires "institutions to give timely warnings of crimes that represent a threat to the safety of students and employees." Crimes required to be reported by the Clery Act include (as defined by the Uniform Crime Reporting Handbook): criminal homicide, including murder, nonnegligent manslaughter, and negligent manslaughter; sexual offenses, forcible and nonforcible; robbery; aggravated assault; burglary; arson; motor vehicle theft; and arrests and/or disciplinary referrals for liquor-law violations, drug-law violations, and illegal weapons possession.
Such notifications are provided by a broadcast e-mail message through the institution's e-mail service in order to alert students, faculty, and staff in a timely manner to situations or crimes that may represent a serious or ongoing threat to the campus community, to heighten safety awareness, and, depending on the circumstances, to solicit information that may lead to an arrest and conviction. While every attempt is made to issue reasonably prompt notice, releases are subject to the availability of accurate facts concerning the incident.
Like most institutions, Moravian College, Moravian Theological Seminary, and the Comenius Center consider it important to send notices when necessary but not frivolously, given that the key to the effectiveness of a timely notice is that the notice itself is something out of the ordinary. Situations are evaluated on a case-by-case basis in order to determine whether there exists a serious or ongoing threat to the institutional community. Instances of a violent crime occurring between two individuals who know each other also are evaluated in this manner.
Timely notifications typically include the following information:
- A succinct statement of the incident.
- Any connection to previous incidents.
- Physical description and/or composite drawing of the suspect, if appropriate.
- Date and time the bulletin was released.
- Other relevant and important information.
- Appropriate safety tips.
When an incident occurs on campus which may merit a timely warning, the highest ranking police officer on campus at that time is empowered to decide whether or not one is merited and, if so, what the appropriate level of warning is given the situation, consulting with the director of campus safety/chief of police as necessary and possible. The officer or the dispatcher will issue the notification him- or herself if no additional consultation is deemed necessary due to low threat level or limited potential for harm (e.g., a situation of a rash of car break-ins).
In situations of greater concern or potential impact, when time permits, Campus Safety and Police consults with the Student Affairs Office and with the President's Office in order to decide whether such notice is advisable, taking into account the nature of the threat, the extent of the risk, the population at risk, and whether there is another, more possibly even more effective, way to minimize the risk of reoccurrance of the incident (e.g., a situation of alleged sexual assault).
When a situation appears to pose an imminent, significant threat for personal injuries or property damage (e.g., a situation involving a bomb threat), the emergency notification system will be deployed by Campus Safety and Police.
Emergency Notification System
The institution's emergency notification system will be used only for situations involving an imminent, significant threat of personal injuries or property damage. It will not be used to announce weather-related college closings or delays unless the closing or delay is due to an imminent threat of personal injuries or property damage. The system consists of a five-tier communications sequence, activated in the following order: (1) siren/public address message, (2) cell phone text message, (3) e-mail, (4) web posting, and (5) voicemail, as deemed appropriate.
Sirens/public address message: the first notification tier, sirens on the Main Street and Hurd Campuses, allows the institution to alert the campus community to an emergency. The sirens are deployed by Campus Safety and Police to provide immediate mass notification of the need for College community members to check their cell phones for a text message.
Text messaging: the second notification tier, e2Campus, enables the institution to send text messages to the cell phones of registered members of the campus community with information about what is happening and/or what precautions should be taken. Students and employees may register two cell phone numbers and two e-mail addresses. Every student, faculty member, administrator, and staff member who has a cell phone should register that cell phone number in accordance with instructions posted at https://amos.moravian.edu (the e2Campus link is under "quick links"). The purpose of sending a text message is to provide basic instruction (e.g., "shelter in place") and to alert people to check their e-mail for additional information.
All students are required either to register with e2Campus or to sign a form indicating that they do not have a cell phone or that they purposely choose not to enroll in e2Campus.
E-mail notification: the third notification tier, broadcast e-mail messaging, allows the institution to provide more detailed information about a situation, using the six-point timely notification content guidelines shown above.
Web posting: the fourth notification tier, web postings, allows the institution to provide more detailed information about a situation which may be viewed by those on and off campus, the latter including such constituents as parents and significant others.
Voicemail notification: the fifth notification tier, broadcast voice-mail messaging, allows the institution to provide more detailed information about a situation, when necessary, to employees on campus through the telephones on their desks (also accessible from off-campus locations).
Additional efforts are made to advise members of the campus community on a timely basis about any campus crime and crime-related problems. These efforts are in compliance with the Clery Act and include the following:
- A safety and security report. Published annually and distributed throughout the College community. It is available to anyone requesting a copy.
- Public log. A record of all crimes reported to the campus police, as well as the names of anyone arrested, is maintained in the Campus Safety and Police Office and is available for viewing during regular office hours.
- Special alerts. Information can be accessed through College-wide email and the Campus Safety and Police website.
In accordance with the Wetterling Crimes against Children and Sexually Violent Offenders Registration Act, information about sexually violent offenders can be obtained by submitting a written request to the Campus Safety and Police Office, which will provide names and addresses of any such offenders known to it. Information is provided by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and does not violate the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
Students seeking to secure an external protection from abuse order (PFA) or the campus equivalent should contact Campus Safety and Police or the dean of students. External PFAs are pursued through the local magistrate's office, with which Campus Safety and Police can be of assistance. Internal behavioral notices are pursued through the dean of students, who serves as a conduit to convey requests and potential follow-up actions to the other party.
Publications explaining these and other services can be picked up at the Campus Safety and Police Office, the HUB desk, the Registrar's Office, or the Office of Student Affairs.
For more information go to the Campus Safety website.
The Campus Safety Office is staffed 24 hours a day and
is located at 119 W. Greenwich Street. 610 861-1421 or,
in case
of emergency,
610
861-1465.
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