By the end of Fall 2019 Campus Safety, in collaboration with Technology and Computer Services, will create a new online reporting system on the Campus Safety Webpage, according to the Board of Trustees meeting held on Oct. 15.
The greatest impact this will create is allowing students to have greater access to incident reporting, providing a real-time status report to Campus Safety according to the Board of Trustees’ agenda.
Students and employees will be able to file a report online on any device, according to the Board of Trustees’ agenda.
This new online reporting system will be convenient in crime-reporting, helping to increase the ability for students and faculty to report a crime in an instant.
Students will become more discouraged to report a crime if the process to report a crime is long. Reporting intention is the highest when the total time spent in the reporting process is limited, according to the British Journal of Criminology.
According to the victimsofcrime.org, crime reporting online will decrease the time accounted for the reporting process and decrease the time accounted for any official, such as Campus Safety, to help the victim and find the culprit who committed the crime.
The victim’s willingness to report a crime and time passed from the scene of the crime has been dependent on the office hours of Campus Safety.
Students and staff will have more flexibility to report crimes and will not be limited to a constructive time frame.
Anonymity also plays a huge factor, according to the British Journal of Criminology, in encouraging victims to report a crime.
If the victim stays anonymous, there’s a greater chance of reporting a crime because they avoid confrontation in their most vulnerable of situations. Otherwise, they would experience scrutiny or embarrassment in the process of reporting a crime in person, according to the British Journal of Criminology.
In instances where damage is involved in a crime, an official police report is greatly needed in order for the victim to get reimbursed for whatever damage was done, according to the victimsofcrime.org.
Reporting crime in more efficient and accurate way can encourage feelings of personal safety and consequently contribute to public safety on campus.
