Timely Warnings

Timely warnings are not instantaneous with the report of an alleged crime. Enough information has to be gathered to determine whether a timely warning is required and would be of assistance to the SDSU community. Some delays occur to prevent impeding a criminal investigation. In addition, some victims may not report the crime until several days after it occurred. Timely warning policy can be read online.

1. For crimes involving gender bias, harassment and Violence Against Women Act crimes (domestic violence, dating violence or stalking): Office of Title IX/Equal Opportunity
2. All other crimes

SDSU is committed to promoting university-wide prevention programs and education. Our response to sexual assaults will likely not be more lights, more UPD officers and more emergency phones. The more students we can educate on topics of consent, incapacitation, healthy relationships, the effects of alcohol use and more students can avoid circumstances leading to policy violations or legal matters. Likewise, the more employees who are trained on how to respond to reports of sexual assault-related crimes, the more enabled the university is to respond to a report, prevent a recurrence and remedy the negative effects of a sexual assaults. As SDSU students have learned and will continue to learn about prevention of sexual assault and other crimes, the number of reports has gone up. This is a result of students being more comfortable reporting crimes knowing that the University will take it seriously.

Specifically, students can learn How They Can Help.

The purpose of the timely warning is to increase awareness across the university community. It is valuable to send these notifications out if even one more crime can be prevented by doing so.

Additionally, timely warnings must be sent in accordance with the Clery Act.

1. Typically, Emergency Notifications will be followed by an “all clear” message or update to indicate the incident that resulted in the Emergency Notification is no longer a threat to the community.
2. Timely Warnings are meant to advise the community to continue and improve upon safe behaviors and looking out for one another.
3. In situations where a timely warning is issued for a string of burglaries, for example, an update might be sent once the alleged perpetrator has been apprehended. However, our hope is that the community is still being aware of their surroundings and reporting crimes or suspicious behavior by calling UPD at 911 from a non-campus phone.

No, a timely warning does not mean SDSU isn’t safe. We do not want anyone in our community to be victimized and we do not want anyone to take safety for granted. Timely warnings are frequently a result of victims and bystanders making reports.

After a timely warning has been issued, we expect the community to be more aware and cautious of their surroundings. There is no reason to be immediately concerned for health or safety unless that is specified in the notice.

Every institution that publishes an Annual Security and Fire Safety Report (ASR) also must send timely warnings when appropriate.

Please seek out other institutions’ websites for their timely warnings to get an idea of frequency and nature of warnings across the country.

Every timely warning, weather notice or emergency notification is sent to help keep the community safe. Sometimes action on your part is required, other times, all we need is your awareness. The end goal is to help each member of our community be safe and focus on issues related to their purpose at SDSU.

1. Many crimes committed are done so under the influence of alcohol. Some crimes are committed under the influence of other drugs.
2. If you are of legal age and choose to drink alcohol, we ask that you do so responsibly and in moderation. This is usually about one standard drink per hour. No, this does not mean 6 shots then nothing for 6 hours; one drink per hour.
3. If you’re under legal age to consume alcohol; please don’t. If you choose to, you may face legal consequences, student conduct matters and you might find yourself involved with another crime as a result of your judgment being significantly diminished due to alcohol use.

Most crimes are a matter of convenience. Our recommendation is to not make it convenient for those who might have ill intent.

• Lock your car, every time you leave it and don’t leave items of value in plain sight.
• Lock your residence hall room door. It does not matter that your roommate lost their key a month ago or doesn’t like to carry keys. Your safety is more important than their convenience or their pocketbook when they pay for a lock to be changed.
• Keep your stuff with you. When at the University Student Union, Hilton M. Briggs Library or other common space on campus, do not leave your laptop on the table when you go to order your food or find the book for your research paper.

There are few crimes every year. Even when there are 2-3 timely warnings close together, that doesn’t necessarily mean there’s been a rash of crimes; it likely means there have been reports usually about unrelated crimes.

Most students will attend and graduate from SDSU without ever interacting with student conduct or UPD.

When a student is found responsible for violating the student code of conduct for harming others or putting others at fear or risk of harm, their mistreatment of a member of the SDSU community could lead to their permanent removal from SDSU.