The Lehigh University Police Department released its Annual Security and Annual Fire Safety Report on Sept. 30 to inform the Lehigh community about crime and new safety policies and data.
According to an email sent to students, faculty and staff, the university publishes the report each year following the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act).
Under the Clery Act, the university must provide students and employees with information on its security policies, security procedures and crime statistics, including arrests and disciplinary actions.
Lehigh Chief of Police Jason Schiffer said the department has a records management system that records and tracks all of the police activity on campus.
Schiffer said data also largely comes from the Office of Student Affairs and the Office of Student Conduct and Community Expectations.
“Every year, we work on reconciling that data (and) make sure we report everything, like every incident of Clery reportable crime — and that we don’t over-report,” Schiffer said.
The report also outlines fire safety compliance and policies addressing sexual misconduct and harassment.
The report includes data from 2021-2023 on crime in three different categories: on-campus areas, non-campus areas and public property.
Non-campus data includes any property owned or controlled by a student organization or any off-campus property used for educational purposes by the institution and students, but not located within the immediate geographic location of the main campus.
The report said students who have experienced any form of sexual harassment or sexual misconduct are encouraged to notify the Title IX Office to file a report or complaint immediately.
From 2021-2023, there were no reported cases of murder, manslaughter, robbery, weapons possessions or arson. In 2023, there was one reported case of motor vehicle theft on public property.
Cases of students using the university’s medical amnesty policy are still classified under underage drinking crimes and are included in the report, even though these students did not face charges.
Schiffer said the liquor violations from 2023 are consistent with the previous two years and there hasn’t been a big change between the numbers for drug offenses.
“There’s three years of data that’s reported in each Annual Security Report and I didn’t see anything that stood out to me as alarming at all,” Schiffer said. “A lot of the numbers were fairly consistent and statistically similar from year to year.”
Schiffer said their efforts to improve campus safety are reflected in their recent changes in safety training and protocols that have changed. He said the sessions hosted on campus regarding those changes aren’t necessarily reflected in the report yet.
“I believe the report reflects what’s been going on on our campus and what measures we have put into place to educate our community to try to do what we can to prevent crime at Lehigh,” Schiffer said.
Members of the Lehigh community can access further resources on the Title IX Coordinator website, alcohol awareness and harm-reduction initiatives, hazing prevention efforts, resources, and reporting mechanisms, the HawkWatch personal safety app and can text LEHIGH to 237233 to subscribe to alerts.
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