Procedure:
The intent of this directive is to establish guidelines for meeting the timely warning requirements of the Clery Act. The University of Tennessee has crimes that occur on campus that may present an ongoing threat to the safety of the campus community. The University of Tennessee Police Department is responsible for the investigation and reporting of crimes that occur on campus, but may conduct joint investigations with other law enforcement agencies for certain incidents.
The University of Tennessee Police Department provides access to a “media log” during normal business hours. This log provides information related to all reported police incidents. Police reports are also available during normal business hours. The initial police report may be released after the review of the Chief of Police or his/her designee and there may be a fee for the report. There is no fee for the media log.
When a serious incident occurs that poses a threat to the campus community and a suspect has not been apprehended, the UT Police Department will disseminate a safety alert. The alerts may be issued electronically, by flyer, or a combination of the two. The potential for continuing safety concerns will dictate the necessity of issuing the safety alerts. Safety alerts would generally be issued for serious crimes against person such as robbery, rape, or aggravated assaults. Nothing in this directive should be considered an absolute for when an alert will be issued or not issued. Each incident will be reviewed for the appropriateness of issuing a safety alert by the Chief of Police or his/her designee.
The goal of the safety alerts and timely notifications is to provide information to the campus community to aid in develop in their risk reduction strategies. The notifications are supplemented by providing information on a regular basis to area media. However, the release of this information to the media does not mean that this information is always provided by these venues. The department will continue to work with various groups in the campus community to disseminate this information in timely manner.
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