Report 2017-032 Recommendation 19 Responses

Report 2017-032: Clery Act Requirements and Crime Reporting: Compliance Continues to Challenge California's Colleges and Universities (Release Date: May 2018)

Recommendation #19 To: Bakersfield College

To ensure Bakersfield requests and reports Clery Act crimes from local law enforcement, the institution should by August 2018 create and begin following a procedure, in conjunction with a written agreement with local law enforcement, to obtain crime statistics for the annual security report.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From September 2023

Bakersfield College (BC) has a long-standing, existing agreement with the Bakersfield Police Department (BPD), approved in 1999, which specifies BPD's responsibilities for investigating Part I crimes occurring on college properties. This agreement supports the ongoing cooperation that has existed between our agencies. The BC Department of Public Safety Policy and Procedure Manual (BC DPS P&P Manual) includes the standard operating procedure to obtain crime statistics for the Annual Security Report (ASR). As BC expands to multiple locations across Kern County, the college will in parallel expand cooperation with relevant agencies. All campus locations fall under BC DPS guidance, and written agreements will be arranged with Local Law Enforcement partners for each new location.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: No Action Taken

Until Bakersfield College updates its 1999 agreement, it will not have addressed this recommendation.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2022

We have internally implemented a written process whereby we request annual crime statistics from our local law enforcement (LLE) partners by February 28, of each new year. We have not yet completed written agreements with our LLE partners. We will endeavor to complete this process by end of fiscal year 2022. Our LLE partners have been very responsive in providing annual statistics upon request.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2021

As noted in our 2020 response, the college has developed a written procedure to ensure that local law enforcement agencies are contacted on an annual basis and requested to submit crime reports for Clery Crime statistics development.

The ongoing and unexpected operational diversions and challenges posed by COVID 19, as well as a significant turnover of College Safety personnel and lack of dedicated staffing this year, has impacted our ability to complete a full review and approval of our draft written agreement by district legal and all law enforcement partners, to finalize the agreements as intended. It is our priority to finalize our written agreements with our local law enforcement agencies, no later than the end of FY 2022, July 2022. This will allow for sufficient time for the governing board approval of our respective agencies and will formally solidify the ongoing, mutual cooperation that currently exists and further ensure the yearly completion of obtaining crime reports from our law enforcement partners. Additionally, during the course of our communications this year with the Bakersfield Police Department (BPD), it was reiterated that there is in fact a long standing, existing agreement between BPD and BC (approved in 1999) which specifies BPD's responsibilities for investigating Part I crimes occurring on college properties. This agreement supports the ongoing cooperation that has existed between our agencies.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From November 2020

The college has developed a written procedure to ensure that local law enforcement agencies are contacted on an annual basis and requested to submit crime reports for Clery Crime statistics development. Additionally, the college has developed a draft written agreement for our local law enforcement agencies, which will solidify mutual cooperation and ensure the yearly completion of obtaining crime reports from our law enforcement partners. Our intended written agreement is currently in the review process by our district legal department and partnering agencies.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending

This recommendation will be fully addressed when Bakersfield College finalizes its written agreements with its local law enforcement agencies.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From November 2019

Bakersfield College has updated its Department of Public Safety Policy and Procedure Manual to include the requirement to submit letters to its local law enforcement partners by January 31, each year. In addition, the Kern Community College District has implemented a new policy requiring the District, on behalf of each campus to complete Memorandums of Understanding with each local law enforcement partner consistent with Ed. Code 67381 (See attached BC DPS P&P Manual).

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Partially Implemented

As we noted in our review of Bakersfield's previous response to our recommendation, although Bakersfield developed a procedure to submit a crime report request letter to its local law enforcement agency, it did not submit its most recent letter on time. Bakersfield will need to ensure that it submits its next request letter by January 2020 to adhere to its procedure for obtaining crime statistics for its next annual security report.

1-Year Agency Response

As stated in our previous response, the college will not be establishing an MOW with local law enforcement; however, we successfully requested crime reports from our local law enforcement partners using the form letter that we established for this purpose.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Partially Implemented

Although Bakersfield developed a procedure to submit a crime report request letter to its local law enforcement agency, it did not submit its most recent letter on time. Bakersfield will need to ensure that it submits its next request letter by January 2020 to adhere to its procedure for obtaining crime statistics for its next annual security report.

6-Month Agency Response

The College has established relationships with Local Law Enforcement agencies to obtain local crime statistics for the Annual Security Report. It was shared to us that a written formal agreement is not a requirement for the Local Law Enforcement to enter into, thus nothing formal has been established. Template letters have been created to submit to Local Law Enforcement agencies the third week of January in a given year. This procedure has now been integrated into the DPS Manual.

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

Because Bakersfield has decided not to establish a formal written agreement with its local law enforcement agency, we will await subsequent evidence from the institution demonstrating how the template letters it cites will be used to obtain crime statistics.

60-Day Agency Response

The College is in the process of developing a written agreement (MOU) with local law enforcement to obtain local crime statistics for the Annual Security Report. Template letters addressed to local law enforcement have already been developed and submitted to our community partners for this year's reporting. This procedure has also been developed and outlined within our internal documentation entitled BC Department of Public Safety: Internal Operating Manual.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Partially Implemented

All Recommendations in 2017-032

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.