Credit: Courtesy of Donny Reagan
Donny Reagan said he was having a normal Saturday night when, at around 12:30 a.m., a text from his roommate said a stray bullet came through the window of their off-campus house — prompting him to return home.
Reagan, a fourth-year in accounting, said he expected a safety notice to be issued after the incident, especially because his house is only steps away from campus on East 12th Avenue. However, no notice was sent out.
No injuries were reported, according to the police report.
Reagan said his roommate’s text notified him of the incident, but other Ohio State students were left in the dark without a safety notice, typically their only way of knowing a crime had occurred.
“They could be walking in that general direction and have no idea what just happened because there was no notice,” Reagan said.
Reagan said both the Columbus Division of Police and University Police were called to the residence, but upon arriving, University Police officers said the case was outside their jurisdiction. Columbus Police filed a report.
University spokesperson Dan Hedman said in an email University Police will defer to Columbus Police for off-campus crimes. He said the decision to send on- and off-campus notices varies depending on the situation.
“Whether a safety notice is sent, when and how, is decided on a case-by-case basis using the information known at the time,” Hedman said.
Hedman said the Department of Public Safety uses three types of notices: Buckeye Alerts, issued via text message to ensure immediate action for safety; public safety notices, issued via email when on-campus crimes display an ongoing threat; and neighborhood safety notices, issued for serious or violent crimes occurring off campus that display an ongoing threat to the campus community.
The university is required by law to send out public safety notices for on-campus crimes in accordance with the Clery Act — a law requiring universities receiving federal aid to report crime information meeting certain parameters — according to the Federal Student Aid, an office in the U.S. Department of Education, website. Hedman said the university is not required to issue off-campus neighborhood safety notices.
Following a recent third-party report on Ohio State’s security measures that recommended the university install permanent lighting and fixed cameras, implement more testing of safety resources and find a more data-driven approach to address crime, Hedman said the university is monitoring how it issues notices and may alter these methods, if needed.
“Ohio State is actively evaluating the method through which we share off-campus crime information with a target of replacing Neighborhood Safety Notices with a comprehensive method of sharing this information during spring semester,” Hedman said.
