WHAT IS A CAMPUS SECURITY AUTHORITY (CSA)?
CSAs are from many parts of the University. TCU has identified several hundred campus employees who are CSAs. They are in roles that you might not normally think of as “security” people. A CSA is a TCU official in one of four roles.
- A campus police department or a campus security department of an institution, for example, members of the TCU Police.
- Any individuals who have responsibility for campus security but are not members of a campus police department or a campus security department, for example, supplemental crowd control personnel at a football game.
- 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, for example, certain members of Human Resources.
- An official of an institution who has significant responsibility for student and campus activities, including but not limited to, student housing, student discipline, and campus judicial proceedings. For example an RA, an assistant coach, or an advisor to an academic club like the French Club. This definition creates hundreds of CSAs at TCU. Many times CSAs are people with whom you would have a special relationship and could expect they can guide you on the next steps if you’re a crime victim.
WHAT DOES A CSA DO?
A CSA must take a report of a Clery Act crime and forward that report to the University for two things.
- The prompt assessment of the report to determine if TCU must issue a timely warning (in other words, examine if the report represents a significant or continuing threat to the safety of the campus).
- The assignment of a Clery Act geography and crime type(s) so the university can correctly record the statistics for disclosures.
The CSA does this by submitting the form at Campus Security Authority Incident Reporting Form. TCU requires this even if you know the police are aware of them as CSAs may learn of other crimes that the police do not know about or aspects of a crime the victim forgets to mention to the police.
TCU trains CSAs in different ways based on the likelihood they may receive a report of a crime. For instance, police officers and members of the residence life staff have more training than advisors to academic clubs or club-level sports teams.
If you have questions regarding the role and expectations of a CSA contact the Director of Clery Act Compliance, Mike Webster at m.n.webster@tcu.edu or (817) 257-1760.