Because of the 1990 Clery Act, colleges and universities are required to disclose crime reports and statistics to the public. Samford’s crime log is accessible to the public online, and recent reports have raised questions amongst the student body.
One such report states that a “terrorist threat” was reported on Wednesday, March 13, having occurred on the same day. According to Samford Police Chief Tommy Taylor, this terrorist threat was a hoax bomb threat sent out to around 1,500 recipients, mainly public schools.
“This has been going on for a while,” Taylor said. “Rarely do we ever get looped into it, being a private institution.”
Taylor shared that there was never any danger to the school or student body.
“We do an incident report on everything,” Taylor said. “Even though it was a hoax and we knew it was a hoax, we still did an incident report on it.”
Taylor also spoke about the two claims of rape of the first degree reported this semester that are included on the crime log. One of the reports was made on Feb. 26 to have occurred two days prior at the intramural fields. The other report was made on Feb. 11 to have occurred on Jan. 20 in Luther Hall.
“Of course, they’re both ongoing investigations, so I couldn’t really elaborate on the details,” Taylor said. “But I can tell you that at no point in time, during either of those incidents, was the campus ever at any risk whatsoever.”
Taylor continued to express his confidence in the safety of the campus.
“They [the reports of rape of the first degree] did happen within two or three weeks of one another,” Taylor said. “But you can go back and look at our crime reports and see that those things don’t happen very often, and I’m thankful for that.”
Taylor said that the Samford Department of Public Safety handles cases like this like any police department in any city would.
“It is truly a very detailed process,” Taylor said. “We work that crime just like you would if you were working in Birmingham or Dallas. It’s a painstaking task, and the investigators here take it extremely seriously. But it is a very thorough process.”
Taylor explained that the crime log shows the very first report that initially comes into the Samford DPS. The field in the crime log self-populates as soon as a call comes in, before any investigation begins to verify the report.
“In the spirit of 100% transparency, it shows exactly what comes into the agency,” Taylor said.
Taylor encourages students to call the DPS with any concerns, no matter how small they may seem.
“It is so important as soon as anything happens to reach out to us and let us know so we can intervene, get involved and not just help you in the moment, but help you down the road,” Taylor said.
Anything that a student shares with Chief Taylor or any member of the Department of Public Safety stays behind the walls of the Samford Police Department. Taylor wants students to know that their privacy is protected.
“When people speak with us, what they discuss with us and the things they ask us to help them with, it stays within these walls, and we try to handle that internally,” Taylor said. “And when we go external, the information that’s conveyed to the external entities is limited. I think that’s the best way to respect the students that we have on campus.”
Lisa Overton, Samford’s Title IX Coordinator, also encourages students to reach out to the Title IX Office when they observe or are involved in a situation.
“There are at least four ways that students can report potential violations of the university’s sexual misconduct policy,” Overton said.
These four ways are submitting a report via the Sexual Misconduct Report Form on the Title IX webpage, sending an email to titleix@samford.edu, calling the Title IX office at 205-726-2764 or scheduling an appointment to come by the office and speak with someone in person.
Taylor said the department is the only one on campus where a member will answer the phone at all hours of the day, every day of the week.
“It’s the little things that I think truly make an agency part of the heart of an institution, and that’s what we try to do here, is be involved in every facet of what takes place on this campus,” Taylor said.
Students can also call the Department of Public Safety at 205-726-2020 to report any concerns for campus safety.
Staff Writer
