Report 2009-032 Recommendation 1 Responses

Report 2009-032: California's Postsecondary Educational Institutions: More Complete Processes Are Needed to Comply With Clery Act Crime Disclosure Requirements (Release Date: January 2010)

Recommendation #1 To: Community Colleges Chancellor's Office

To improve compliance among California's community colleges, the Chancellor's Office should provide direction to the institutions regarding the provisions of the Clery Act. This direction should include a discussion of the need to review and adhere to currently available Clery Act guidance such as OPE's handbook and tutorial, as well as the UCR handbook. The Chancellor's Office should also inform institutions of training opportunities for those employees responsible for compiling Clery Act crime statistics and distributing annual security reports. Finally, the Chancellor's Office should inform community colleges of the negative effects of not complying with the Clery Act.

6-Month Agency Response

The Chancellor's Office manages a Web site with emergency management resources, where it included a "toolbox" with links to Clery Act guidance such as the OPE handbook and other resources. Further, the Chancellor's Office created a peer support network by asking employees responsible for compiling Clery Act crime statistics to be available to each other to compare and suggest best practices. Contact information for the peer support network can be found on the emergency management resources Web site. In addition, the director of Emergency Planning and Preparedness (director) maintains a comprehensive email contact list of college employees involved in emergency management. The director used this list to notify the colleges of an upcoming Clery Act training opportunity. Finally, the Chancellor's Office stated that it contracted with a retired police chief to provide Clery Act training specific for community colleges. In addition to offering a webinar and workshop, the chief will be available to give colleges one-on-one mentoring. All training and support the chief provides to colleges will be free of charge to the colleges. (See 2011-406 p. 126)

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Fully Implemented

All Recommendations in 2009-032

Agency responses received after June 2013 are posted verbatim.