Since its enactment in 1990 the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Statistics Act (Clery Act) has become a blueprint for the means in which higher education institutions disclose information about crimes that occur on and around their campuses.

The University of Texas Police at Houston (UT Police), in coordination with UTHealth and MD Anderson, ensures the full compliance of the landmark federal law by providing annual updates to the document available on the UT Police website.

The most recent security report, which covers calendar years 2016-2019, was made available Oct. 1. Each report contains statistics about crimes that have been reported to UT Police and other Campus Security Authorities over a three-year period.

“Compiling this report is a year-long process,” said UT Police Records Supervisor Alma Garza. “We are consistently working to provide accurate statistics and a clear picture of the types of crimes that occur within our vicinity.”

Garza’s role in the compilation of data is to monitor the police department’s incident reports for crimes included in one of the four distinct categories that must be reported in the Annual Security Report. They are: criminal offenses, hate crimes, violence against women, and arrests and referrals for disciplinary action.

In addition, those incidents must have occurred on campus, in non-campus buildings or properties, or on public property that is within or immediately adjacent to and accessible from the campus.

UT Police produces separate reports for each institution with a goal of incorporating policy information specific to each. 

UTHealth Houston Associate Vice President University Relations and Equal Opportunity Deana Moylan, hopes that the work put into the report does not go unnoticed by the communities that it aims to inform.

“We provide this information to our community and we encourage university community members to become informed and prepared,” said Moylan, “Our goal is to raise the level of awareness about crimes that occur because we believe that being informed is a large part of our prevention strategy and key to creating a safe environment.”

At MD Anderson, Sheri Wakefield, Director of EEO & HR Regulations, Title IX Coordinator and Clery Officer, shares a similar sentiment.

“It is important to keep our community abreast of any criminal incidents at and surrounding our institution,” said Wakefield. “We want to provide them with the knowledge necessary to make the most informed decisions about their personal safety.”

To learn more about the Clery Act, go to www.clerycenter.org. To view the latest Clery reports for UTHealth Houston and MD Anderson, click here.