Campus Security Authority
What is a CSA?
A CSA is a person referred to as a campus security authority by the Clery Act. CSA's are a vital part of data collection for the annual safety and security report.
The Clery Act requires UL to provide an annual safety and security report. In addition to input from law enforcement, certain staff positions are designated as Campus Security Authorities (CSA) for the purpose of providing information for this report. CSAs are usually found in departments responsible for, but not limited to, student and campus activities, safety/security, discipline, housing, athletics, human resources or judicial proceedings. This designation also includes any individual who has been specified by UL to receive and report offenses.
CSA's are responsible for reporting the number of crimes and incidents as described in the Clery Act that occur in their department to the UL Police Department. These numbers are then included in the federally mandated Clery Report, which is distributed every year in the beginning of October.
What makes you a CSA?
The law defines four categories of CSAs:
1. University Police Department sworn personnel and department administrators.
2. Non-police people of offices responsible for campus security. These CSAs have security presence or access control authority on university property, including, but not limited to, security guards, campus parking enforcement staff, student patrol officers, security staff at athletic events, and student ID checkers.
3. 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.
4. 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 - University Police.
Training and Testing for CSAs
CSAs are required by law to receive annual training and resources from the Department of Public Safety.
Each year, before Sept. 1, CSAs must review a training video and complete testing.
The Jeanne Clery Act: Working Together to Create Safer Campuses - PDF
Campus Security Authority (CSA) Training Video
Instructions
Clicking the link below will redirect you to a Moodle page.
Log into Moodle with UL credentials (if not already logged in).
Click the red "Enroll Me" button at the bottom of the screen.
Click the link "CSA Training (video 10:53)" to watch the video.
Return to this page to take the CSA Training Test below.
Click Here to watch the CSA video on Moodle!
Campus Security Authority (CSA) Training Test
CSA Crime Reporting
CSA Crime Reporting - When a crime is reported to a CSA, first ask the person if they would like to report it to University Police. If so, contact University Police at 337.482.6447. If the CSA has firsthand knowledge and confirmation that the reporting party filed a police report with University Police, then they are not obligated to complete and submit a Campus Security Authority Crime Report Form. However, if the reporting party says they will file a police report with University Police, leaving the CSA with no firsthand knowledge and confirmation that a police report was filed, then the CSA must still complete and submit a CSA Crime Report.
CSAs are encouraged to report all crimes reported to them, on a timely basis, to University Police via a CSA incident form. http://police.louisiana.edu/assistance/forms. However, under the Clery Act, only Clery Act qualifying crimes are required to be reported. The CSA Crime Report Form is submitted to the University 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 rumor or hearsay, 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 same (see Anonymous Reporting section below). 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!
Anonymous Reporting
The University Police Department, unless otherwise prescribed by law, does not take anonymous police reports. The exception related to anonymous reporting involves Campus Security Authorities. The University of Louisiana at Lafayette permits victims or witnesses to report crimes to CSAs on a voluntary, anonymous basis (and includes such anonymous reports in reported Annual Security Report crime totals) but encourages individuals who report crime to provide identifying information.
What do I tell a reporting party?
The following is a sample of what you can tell a reporting party who comes to you to report a crime:
"As part of my position on campus I am a federally mandated crime reporter for the University. I am required to report of this incident to University Police for data gathering. If you request confidentiality, the Report Form will not include your name, or that of any other involved individuals. My report will contain only the information you provide. Do you have any questions? Would you like to help me fill it out?"