Timely Warnings and Emergency Notifications
The Mines Alert System exists to provide a fast and effective means of communicating to the campus community. The system is used to send three types of communications: Timely Warnings and Emergency Notifications, as required by the Jeanne Clery Campus Security Act, and Safety Bulletins, which may include tips and ways to avoid certain areas of campus due to a number of issues. The Clery Act requires federally funded universities to share information about campus crime and safety, and requires issuing alerts for certain incidents that happen on campus or on campus-associated property.
Timely Warnings
Timely Warnings are issued when certain crimes (see definitions below) that occurred on Mines associated property and within Clery Act geography that are considered a serious or continuing threat to the campus community. In addition to warning community members, these alerts can aid in crime prevention. The decision to issue a Timely Warning is made on a case-by-case basis, taking into consideration the facts surrounding the Clery Act crime, including, but not limited to, such factors as: the nature of the crime, the serious or continuing threat to the campus community, and the possible risk of compromising law enforcement efforts.
Clery Act Crime Definitions
Criminal Offenses
Murder and Non-negligent Manslaughter: The willful (non-negligent) killing of a human being by another. Manslaughter by Negligence: The killing of another person through gross negligence.
Sexual Assault: Any sexual act directed against another person, without consent of the victim, including instances where the victim is incapable of giving consent.
- Rape: Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus, with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim. This offense includes the rape of both males and females.
- Fondling: Touching of the private body parts of another person for the purpose of sexual gratification, without the consent of the victim, including instances where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of his/her age or because of his/her temporary or permanent mental capacity.
- Incest: Sexual intercourse between persons who are related to each other within the degrees wherein marriage is prohibited by law.
- Statutory Rape: Sexual intercourse with a person who is under the age of consent (18 years old).
Robbery: The taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or violence and/or by putting the victim in fear.
Aggravated Assault: An unlawful attack by one person upon another for the purpose of inflicting severe or aggravated bodily injury. (Includes attempts, and whether or not an injury occurred.) This type of assault usually is accompanied by the use of a weapon or by means likely to produce death or great bodily harm.
Burglary: The unlawful entry of (or attempt to enter) a structure to commit a felony or theft. (Excludes vehicle burglary, shoplifting, and thefts from open areas.)
Motor Vehicle Theft: The theft or attempted theft of a motor vehicle. (Includes joy-riding.)
Arson: The willful or malicious burning or attempt to burn, with or without the intent to defraud, a dwelling house, public building, motor vehicle or aircraft, personal property of another, etc.
Hate Crimes
A hate crime is a criminal offense that manifests evidence that the victim was intentionally selected because of the perpetrator’s bias against the victim. Categories of bias are race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, ethnicity, national origin, and disability. Hate crimes include all Criminal Offenses listed above as well as Larceny-Theft, Simple Assault, Intimidation, Destruction /Damage/Vandalism of Property.
- Larceny-Theft: The unlawful taking, carrying, leading, or riding away of property from the possession or constructive possession of another. (Constructive possession is the condition in which a person does not have physical custody or possession, but is in a position to exercise dominion or control over a thing.) Classify as Larceny: thefts of bicycles or automobile accessories; shoplifting; pocket-picking; stealing of property not taken by force, violence, or fraud; attempted larcenies.
- Simple Assault: An unlawful physical attack by one person upon another where neither the offender displays a weapon, nor the victim suffers obvious severe or aggravated bodily injury involving apparent broken bones, loss of teeth, possible internal injury, severe laceration, or loss of consciousness.
- Intimidation: To unlawfully place another person in reasonable fear of bodily harm through the use of threatening words and/or other conduct, but without displaying a weapon or subjecting the victim to actual physical attack.
- Destruction/Damage/Vandalism of Property: To willfully or maliciously destroy, damage, deface, or otherwise injure real or personal property without the consent of the owner or the person having custody or control of it.
Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) Offenses
Dating violence: Violence committed by a person who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim. The existence of such a relationship shall be determined based on:
- the reporting party’s statement and with consideration of the length of the relationship,
- the type of relationship, and
- the frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship.
Domestic violence: A felony or misdemeanor crime of violence committed by:
- a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the victim;
- a person with whom the victim shares a child in common;
- a person who is cohabitating with, or has cohabitated with, the victim as a spouse or intimate partner;
- a person similarly situated to a spouse of the victim under the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction in which the crime of violence occurred; or
- any other person against an adult or youth victim who is protected from that person’s acts under the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction in which the crime of violence occurred.
Stalking: Engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to: fear for the person’s safety or the safety of others; or suffer substantial emotional distress.
Emergency Notifications
Emergency Notifications have a wider focus than the Timely Warnings and are issued for any significant emergency or dangerous situation occurring on campus that involves a confirmed immediate threat to the health or safety of students or employees. Examples of types of situations that may warrant an Emergency Notification include an active shooter, fires, bomb threat, natural disaster, etc. The purpose of Emergency Notifications is to provide life-saving information and instructions during an active emergency situation
Safety Bulletins
While the campus community must take pains to stay informed of widely known and media-circulated threats, impacts and more, Mines Police, Mines Alert Team, PIOs and others may elect to circulate bulletins that help keep the campus informed, safe and alert. Examples of when the Mines Alert system may be used to distribute a safety bulletin include:
- When local authorities provide us with information to share with the Mines community
- There is an institutional need to communicate a non-life threatening information to campus (such as regarding a computer network outage or a cyber-attack, power outage, etc.)
- There is a weather-related closure or delay