Safety and Security

The Department of Safety and Security is located on the first floor of the Tudor House at 296 Beech Street (across from Findley Hall). The Department is available to provide service 24 hours a day, seven days a week including holidays and breaks. In an emergency, you can contact the Department by dialing 2000 from any campus telephone or (440) 826-2000 from a non-campus telephone. For non-emergency service, the department can be contacted at (440) 826-2336. A courteous dispatcher will always be on duty to answer your call and to dispatch an officer to your location.

Emergency telephones are located:

• in the Recreation Center parking lot
• in the Fairgrounds parking lot
• at the top of the outside stairs near Merner-Pfeiffer
• between Carnegie and Wheeler Halls
• the northwest corner of Bonds
• by the exterior elevator of the Student Activities Center
• on the north side of the Observatory
• the southwest corner of the baseball field by Heritage Hall
• Institute for Learning in Retirement (ILR) building
• the new BW Speech Clinic building, 285 Front Street
• the west side of Harding Hall, 77 Bagley Road
• the BW parking lot at the corner of Bagley Road and Berea Street
• the northeast sidewalk of the Kleist Center for Arts and Drama
• the southeast walkway of the Strosacker Union
• and between Dietsch and Klein Halls
• In the Math and Computer Science Building lobby, just outside the 24-hour computer lab.

These phones dial directly to the Department of Safety and Security. There are also four call boxes attached to the rear exterior of the townhouse apartments on East Bridge Street.

In addition to the emergency phones, each residence hall has an outdoor phone adjacent to the entrance doors from which calls can be made to report suspicious activity as well as to request an escort or other assistance.

Current events at U.S. schools have made us all increasingly aware that the improbable occurrence of an active shooter event can happen anywhere, at any time. BW has actively planned for many types of emergencies, including a campus response to an active shooter. Below are some of the actions that BW, the Berea Police Department, and the Southwest Enforcement Bureau will take in response to a report of an active shooter:

• The Berea Police: The Berea Police Department is the police department that serves and protects BW here in the City of Berea. Their police station is located in the Berea Commons, just southeast of BW’s Conservatory and The Berea Townhouse Apartments. Their armed police officers could arrive on campus within a couple of minutes of receiving a 911 call, and these officers are trained to make entry into a facility with a minimal number of officers and confront an active shooter.
• The Southwest Enforcement Bureau (“SEB”): The Southwest Enforcement Bureau is a multi-jurisdictional SWAT team, and serves the southwest Cuyahoga county area. SEB is made up of approximately 40 police officers from 18 surrounding suburbs (including Berea, Middleburg Heights, Olmsted Falls and Strongsville), and includes tactical members, bomb technicians, hostage negotiators, snipers and medics. SEB is equipped with a bomb truck with explosive container, an armored vehicle which can be used to deliver a team or rescue victims, and a new $300,000 command post. They are trained in responding to barricaded subjects, hostage situations, crowd control, and area searches for lost people and children. Some SEB officers could arrive on scene within minutes, depending on if they are on duty at the time of an incident and their proximity to BW’s campus.
• Emergency Communications: BW has several ways that we will communicate emergency information to the campus community. Some are listed below:
• • Classroom Emergency Phones: Each classroom has an emergency phone from which students and professors can dial 911 and BW Safety and Security. BW recommends that you use these phones if you have an emergency in your classroom area. These phones send an exact location to our BW's Dispatcher’s computer so that officers will know your location. Note that your cell phone can only give an approximate location in the county from where you are calling.
  • Emergency Text Messaging: BW has contracted with “RAVE Communications” to have the capability to send an emergency text message to any and all cellphones that have been registered by faculty, staff and students with BW’s Telecommunications Department. Several BW departments have the ability to send an emergency message at any time, including The Office of the President, University Relations, Telecommunications, and the Department of Safety and Security. A brief text message will be sent during an on-going event that has a significant risk to the safety of the BW community. An emergency text message would normally include a description of the type of emergency event, the location of the event, and how you should proceed to protect yourself. The message may also contain information regarding locations that you should evacuate to in the event of a campus emergency requiring an evacuation of everyone on campus.
  • Campus Information Television Monitors: These Monitors can be coordinated with our emergency text messages to display emergency information during a crisis.
  • BW Email: All faculty, staff and student that have a BW email address will be contacted with updates during an active shooter event. Several departments have the ability to send mass-emails to all students, faculty and staff, including the Department of Safety and Security.
  • Card Access Control: Safety and Security has the ability to control any of the card access doors on BW’s campus. Doors can be immediately unlocked, secured (allowing for access with BW I.D. if the privilege was granted), and locked-out (no access by anyone regardless of access privileges). BW has been adding new card access equipment to existing facilities each year, and all new facilities are equipped with card access doors.

Personal Response to an Active Shooter

Note: The excerpt below was taken from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s “Active Shooter — How to Respond” booklet. Click here for a complete booklet on the U.S.D.H.S web page

Good practices for coping with an active shooter situation:

• Be aware of your environment and any possible dangers
• Take note of the two nearest exits in any facility you visit
• If you are in an office, stay there and secure the door
• If you are in a hallway, get into a room and secure the door
• As a last resort, attempt to take the active shooter down. When the shooter is at close range and you cannot flee, your chance of survival is much greater if you try to incapacitate him/her. CALL 911 WHEN IT IS SAFE TO DO SO!

How to respond when an active shooter is in your vicinity

Quickly determine the most reasonable way to protect your own life. Remember that customers and clients are likely to follow the lead of employees and managers during an active shooter situation.

• Evacuate
• If there is an accessible escape path, attempt to evacuate the premises. Be sure to:
• • Have an escape route and plan in mind
  • Evacuate regardless of whether others agree to follow
  • Leave your belongings behind
  • Help others escape, if possible
  • Prevent individuals from entering an area where the active shooter may be
  • Keep your hands visible
  • Follow the instructions of any police officers
  • Do not attempt to move wounded people
  • Call 911 when you are safe
• Hide out
• If evacuation is not possible, find a place to hide where the active shooter is less likely to find you.
• Your hiding place should:
• • Be out of the active shooter’s view
  • Provide protection if shots are fired in your direction (i.e., an office with a closed and locked door)
  • Not trap you or restrict your options for movement
• To prevent an active shooter from entering your hiding place:
• • Lock the door
  • Blockade the door with heavy furniture
• If the active shooter is nearby:
• • Lock the door
  • Silence your cell phone and/or pager
  • Turn off any source of noise (i.e., radios, televisions)
  • Hide behind large items (i.e., cabinets, desks)
  • Remain quiet
• If evacuation and hiding out are not possible:
• • Remain calm
  • Dial 911, if possible, to alert police to the active shooter’s location
  • If you cannot speak, leave the line open and allow the dispatcher to listen
• Take action against the active shooter
• As a last resort, and only when your life is in imminent danger, attempt to disrupt and/or incapacitate the active shooter by:
• • Acting as aggressively as possible against him/her
  • Throwing items and improvising weapons
  • Yelling
  • Committing to your actions

Campus patrol officers enforce laws regulating underage drinking, the use of controlled substances and possession of weapons. The consumption and possession of alcoholic beverages in residence halls, while strongly discouraged, is restricted to the individual rooms of those students that are at least 21 years of age, which is Ohio's legal drinking age. The consumption and possession of alcoholic beverages is prohibited in the Freshman Center of Klein, Beech, Saylor, and the Wellness Halls. Baldwin Wallace University prohibits the use, possession, sale, manufacture or distribution of illegal drugs on campus. Intentional use, possession or sale of firearms or other dangerous weapons by students is strictly forbidden and is a violation of University policy.

Crime Prevention is important to our success. Our philosophy is one of eliminating or minimizing criminal opportunities whenever possible and encouraging students, faculty and staff to be responsible for their own safety and security.

Through a campus crime prevention program, the community can increase its ability to recognize crime and safety risks, and learn methods that prevent opportunities, which allow crimes to occur. The Department offers a number of programs to help educate the college community. Current subjects include:

• Basic Residence Hall Security: This program covers residence hall security with an emphasis on safety precautions and crime prevention measures.
• Operation Identification: This is a theft prevention program in which participants learn to identify situations that create opportunity for theft, and to take measures to prevent such situations from occurring. Participants have the opportunity to create a record of personal valuables such as stereos, and TV's and mark those items using an engraving tool. Bicycle owners may also contact the Safety and Security Office to make an appointment to have their bike engraved.
• Sexual Assault Response Team: The Sexual Assault Response Team is responsible for coordinating sexual assault prevention and education efforts on campus. They can be reached by contacting the Counseling Center at (440) 826-2180, or the Health Center at (440) 826-2178.
• Customized Programming: Upon request, other safety and security topics can be incorporated into a crime prevention presentation. To schedule a program, contact the department during office hours at (440) 826-2336.

Baldwin Wallace University is committed to providing a professional working and learning environment free from sexual misconduct. Sexual misconduct is a form of sex discrimination, is illegal, and can result in a civil law suit, and in some cases, criminal charges. Sex discrimination is prohibited by Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, and this policy, in concert with the policies and procedures in the Student Handbook seek to keep Baldwin Wallace ethically sound and in compliance.

Baldwin Wallace University prohibits all forms of sexual misconduct including but not limited to sexual harassment and the crimes of dating violence, domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking. State of Ohio definitions for these and other gender based crimes can be found in the Ohio revised code. Please see codes.ohio.gov/orc/ for specific definitions. Violations of any state, local or federal law are, by default, violations of institutional policy.

Sexual misconduct most often exploits a relationship between individuals of unequal power and authority (for example, the relationship between an employee and a supervisor or between a student and a teacher), but may also occur between student peers or employees of similar rank. Sexual misconduct may involve the behavior of a person of either gender against a person of the opposite or same gender. Sanctions at the disposal of the institution for sexual misconduct range from mandatory education about sexual misconduct issues to dismissal or termination, depending on the seriousness and frequency of the behavior.

Review the full BW Equal Opportunity, Harassment and Nondiscrimination Policy.

How to Report an Incident

Any Baldwin Wallace student, employee, or campus visitor having a complaint of sexual misconduct (hereafter, the complainant) is encouraged to do one of the following:

• Call, email or visit any of the Sexual Misconduct Investigators. Students can find a list of investigators in MyBW.
• Call, email or visit or the Chief Diversity Officer/Title IX Administrator. The Coordinator can be reached at (440) 826-2426, charknes@bw.edu or Bonds Administration Building Rm. 202C
• Call Human Resources at (440) 826-2220.
• Call or visit Safety and Security at (440) 826-2000. Their 24 hours dispatch center is available for reporting any crime or misconduct.
• Submit an incident report. 

The federal Campus Sex Crimes Prevention Act, enacted on October 28, 2000, went into effect October 28, 2002. The law requires institutions of higher education to issue a statement advising the campus community where registered sex offender information may be obtained.

Baldwin Wallace University Safety and Security has been advised by local authorities that the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office's "Sexual Offenders Search" is currently the Internet site that contains information about registered sex offenders in Cuyahoga County.

After accepting the terms of the web site, search for BW's zip code (44017). If a file does not appear, then there are no sexual predators registered in the zip code area.

Baldwin Wallace University considers acts motivated by bias and other forms of discrimination to be forms of harassment and intimidation. These types of acts violate Baldwin-Wallace policy, as described in the Student Code of Conduct (contained in the Student Handbook). These acts may also violate federal, state, and local criminal codes, as well as being civil rights violations.

Baldwin Wallace University will not tolerate these acts or any hate crimes and will aggressively investigate reports of any such incidents on its campus. Baldwin Wallace will report all crimes of bias and hate crimes to the Berea Police Department so that the appropriate police and city, county or federal prosecutor can gather information and evidence, and consider criminal prosecution of these acts in the appropriate court of law.

A bias incident is a threatened, attempted, or completed action that is motivated by the appearance of bigotry and bias regarding a person’s real or perceived race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, age, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, gender identity/expression, marital or parental status, citizenship, or military or veteran status. Examples of these incidents include name calling, offensive language/acts, graffiti, or inappropriate gestures/behavior.   Hate crimes (also known as bias-motivated-crimes) occur when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her perceived membership in a certain social group, usually defined by racial group, religion, sexual orientation, disability, ethnicity, nationality, age, gender, gender identity or political affiliation.

Faculty, staff and students can report an incident by completing and submitting an incident report.

Those who wish to report an incident in person, should immediately contact Safety and Security at (440) 826-2336. Calls can be placed 24 hours a day — seven days a week. The Director of Safety and Security can also be contacted at (440) 826-2377.

If you have any questions or if you need assistance completing this form, contact the following offices:

• Residence Life Central Staff Members (440) 826-2114
• Accessible Education Coordinator – for Students (440) 826-2090
• Asst. Dean, Office of Student Affairs (440) 826-2772
• Assoc. Academic Dean, Academic Affairs (440) 826-2251
• Director, Diversity Affairs (440) 826-2426
• Coordinator, Multicultural Student Services (440) 826-8520
• Coordinator, LGBT Services (440) 826-2116
• Asst. VP, Human Resources & Disability Services for Employees (440) 826-2220
• Director, Health and Counseling Center (440) 826-2178
• Director, International Student Services (440) 826-2771

Handwritten forms should be completed and returned to Safety and Security, Attn: Gary Black, 296 Beech Street.

If there is reason to believe that a resident student is missing, call Safety and Security at (440) 826-2336 (or go to the Safety and Security Office) immediately, regardless of the time of day or the day of the week.  Safety and Security Officers will complete an information report and will immediately initiate an effort to locate the student.

Safety and Security will contact administrators of Student Affairs, Residence Life, the Business Office and Academic Affairs to collect information on the student's recent activity on campus (such as food purchases, card access, and class attendance).  Safety and Security will also advise the Vice President for Student Affairs/Dean of Students that a student has been reported missing within 24 hours of being advised of the missing student.

Safety and Security will contact the Berea Police within 24 hours of determining that the student is missing. Safety and Security or Student Affairs may contact the family of the missing student to gather information. Baldwin Wallace will contact the custodial parent or guardian of a missing student who is under the age of 18 and not emancipated, within 24 hours of determining that the student is missing.