UW-Madison is an exceptional place to study and work.
From world-class research, to world-class ice cream,
being a Badger is a world-class experience.
As with any campus, though, sometimes crimes and major events
happen, and sometimes these crimes and events pose a threat
to our community.
This is when Crime Warnings and WiscAlerts are issued.
These campus-wide communications, mandated
by the federal government under the Clery Act, serve as warnings
so that everyone can take steps to protect themselves.
They are issued when an incident, in the professional opinion
of law enforcement, represents an ongoing threat to campus.
It is important to distinguish between a Crime Warning
and a WiscAlert.
Crime Warnings are issued after a certain type of crime
has occurred.
WiscAlerts are issued when a crime, or other emergency,
is ongoing and poses a threat to our campus.
There are a couple of important things
to understand about Crime Warnings.
First, most crimes that occur on and around campus
will not result in a Crime Warning or WiscAlert
because they don't meet the criteria under the Clery Act.
Second, all Crime Warnings are legally prohibited from including
a victim's personally identifiable information.
Remember, to qualify for a Crime Warning,
the crime must pose a serious and continuous threat to the campus
community and occur in locations specified by the Clery Act.
Since many of the crimes that result in Crime Warnings
are not formally reported to police,
there is no police investigation and, therefore, no follow up
information to provide.
When information is released, you should know that the individual
student records are protected by federal law, which means
UW-Madison cannot provide details about students who engage
in the disciplinary process.
So how can you stay informed?
UW-Madison may communicate about crimes through news releases,
Facebook, and Twitter.
UWPD maintains an online daily crime log, which includes
all crimes reported to UWPD that occur in UWPD's patrol
jurisdiction.
UWPD often issues press releases about crimes that have occurred
on campus that don't qualify for Crime Warnings.
UWPD also provides crime information on its website, Facebook
page, and Twitter feed.
The city of Madison Police Department--
MPD-- is active on Facebook and Twitter,
and routinely releases information about crimes on its website.
Following UWPD and MPD are great ways
to stay informed about crimes and safety
in the Greater Madison community.
The Clery Act requires that we issue Crime Warnings
in a way that's reasonably likely to reach the entire campus
community
so we send Crime Warnings to all wisc.edu email addresses.
If you have a wisc.edu address, or another UW-Madison affiliated
email address, you cannot unsubscribe to Crime Warnings.
We are dedicated to your safety.
Go Badgers!
And "On, Wisconsin!"
