UNIVERSITY POLICE | ENCON POLICE ifr York PARK POLICE | FOREST RANGERS State December 29, 2017 CERTIFIED MAIL 9407110898765003260404 EMAIL CleryComplaints@ed.gov U.S. Department of Education Federal Student Aid — Clery Act Compliance Division 830 First StNE Washington DC 20202 Dear Clery Act Compliance Division Representative: 1 am writing to alert you to what I believe are the negligent actions and violations of the The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act ("Clery Act”), 20 US. Code § 1092 (£)3), by the State University of New York College at Albany (“SUNY Albany”) over the past two years. SUNY Albany is an “eligible institution” as defined in the Clery act. Please consider this letter the filing of an official complaint and allegations of several violations of the timely reporting requirements of the Clery Act based on of a number of incidents, described below, throughout 2016 and 2017. All of these crimes occurred on the SUNY Albany campus and in each case either no Clery notifications were issued or the notices were issued but were untimely. Herein are separate allegations of Clery Act violations, but I am also charging that the totality of these violations indicates a systematic effort on the part of SUNY Albany campus officials to violate the Clery Act by regularly failing to release timely information ~ or in some cases any information whatsoever — about crimes occurring on campus that should be considered a threat to students and employees of the University. The occurrences of crimes in which no notifications or untimely notifications were made are as follows: 1 On October 21, 2016 at about 1:40 p.m,, the University at Albany received an anonymous report that a female student was approached by two unknown males in the area between the Humanities Building and the Dutch Quad parking lot. One of the males touched an intimate part of the victim’s body without her consent and the complainant further reported that, after clearly telling the men to stop, one of the men attempted to touch her fora second time. Finally, the reporting individual indicated that the incident was interrupted by a nearby bystander who intervened in a manner that cause the two reported ‘perpetrators to leave the area. 11 North Pearl Street — Suite 1200 — Albany, NY 12207 (P) 518.433.5472 — (F) 518.433.5473 — www.pbanys.orgDecember 29, 2017 U.S. Department of Education Federal Student Aid — Clery Act Compliance Division Page 2 This is considered the crime of “forcible touching” which is categorized as a sex crime” in the New York State Penal Law. The Clery Act requires that upon the reporting of sex offenses, an cligible institution must make a timely notification to the campus community. Being that the suspects in this case were unknown and were not in custody, their actions should have been considered a continuing threat to the campus community, however SUNY Albany did not release a Clery notification on this incident until 7:54 pm. approximately six hours later. ‘On October 23, 2016 at about 4:00 am., an unknown male entered the Stuyvesant Tower residence of a female student without permission and engaged in sexual intercourse with her, without her consent. The subject fled after the victim awoke and confronted him. This is considered the crime of “rape” which is categorized as a “sex crime” in the New ‘York State Penal Law. The Clery Act requires that upon the reporting of sex offenses, an cligible institution must make a timely notification to the campus community. Being that the suspect in this case was unknown and was not in custody, this criminal action should have been considered a continuing threat to the campus community, however the University did not release a Clery notification on this incident until 12:05 p.n., approximately eight hours later. Upon this release, several members of the college community came forward as witnesces to seeing this individual on campus which helped 10 identify him and led to his arrest. On December 13, 2016 at approximately 2:00 a.m., a forcible touching incident occurred ‘on the #11 CDTA bus as it was moving from Western Avenue toward the Social Science Joading dock on campus. During the incident a male sitting on the bus repeatedly touched a woman on intimate parts of her body and then fled the scene. This is considered the crime of “forcible touching” and is categorized as a “sex crime” in the New York State Penal Law. The Clery Act requires that upon the reporting of sex offenses, an eligible institution must make a timely notification to the campus community. Being that the suspect in this ease was unknown and was not in custody, his behavior should have been considered a continuing threat to the campus community, however the University did not release a Clery notification on this incident until 9:40 p.m. on December 16, 2016 (more than three and ahalf days later) which included a photograph of the unidentified suspect. (On March 1, 2017 at approximately 9:20 a.m., an unknown male struck and took money from a taxi driver parked on Collins Circle on campus. This is considered a robbery in the New York State Penal Law. The Clery Act requires that upon the reporting of a robbery, an eligible institution must make a timelyDecember 29, 2017 U.S. Department of Education Federal Student Aid — Clery Act Compliance Division Page3 notification to the campus community. Being that the suspect in this case was unknown and was not in custody, his action should have been considered a continuing threat to the ‘campus community, however the University did not release a Clery notification on this incident until 5:52 p.m., approximately eight hours later. 5. On March 2, 2017 at approximately 11:55 p.m., four males struck and robbed a student in Tappan Hall on the State Quad. ‘The suspects entered Tappan Hall at about 11:54 p.m., as the building had locked doors. However, the suspects who did not have authorization to center, entered through a door as « building resident exited. Shortly after entering unlawfully, the suspects assaulted a student, took his property, and then fled the Quad. The student suffered minor injuries including bruising and a laceration, and was transported to the hospital. ‘These crimes are considered burglary and robbery in the New York State Penal Law. The Clery Act requires that upon the reporting of a burglary and/or a robbery an cligible institution must make a timely notification to the campus community. Being that the suspects in this ease were unknown and were not in custody, their actions should have been considered a continuing threat to the campus community, however the University did not release a Clery notification on this incident until 2:20 a.m. on March 3, 2017, approximately two and a half hours later, 6. On March 10, 2017 at about 12:38 am, a delivery driver reported that he was delivering food on campus when the individual who ordered did not have enough money to pay. Upon walking away, the driver reported that the male waiting for the delivery began punching him in the head and continued to do so as he lay on the ground. The driver stated that the male then tried to take his phone from him before fleeing the scene. The driver was then taken to the hospital due to his injuries. This crime was en attempted robbery. The Clery Act requires that upon the reporting of a robbery, an eligible institution must make a timely notification to the campus community. Being that the suspect in this case was unknown and was not in custody, their actions should have been considered a continuing threat to the campus community, however, no Clery notification was ever issued on this incident and the suspect was not arrested until twelve days later. 7. On October 16, 2017 at 9:58 a.m., a female student reported that she was sexually assaulted by an unknown male on October 15, 2017 at approximately 3:00 a.m. while in her dorm room on campus. The victim was unsure of the identity of the male and members of the state university police then spent several hours reviewing camera footage in an attempt to identify the suspect.December 29, 2017 U.S. Department of Education Federal Student Aid — Clery Act Compliance Division, Page 4 This crime is considered a “sex crime” in the New York State Penal Law. The Clery Act requires that upon the reporting of sex offenses, an eligible institution must make a timely notification to the campus community. Being that the suspect in this case was unknown and was not in custody, their actions should have been considered a continuing threat to the campus community, however, no Clery notification was ever issued on this incident and an arrest was not made until several hours after the suspect was identified. 8. On October 16, 2017 at approximately 3:00 p.m, a female student reported that she met with an unknown male in his vehicle on campus. During a conversation the male became upset and started yelling at the female who then tried to leave the vehicle. When she did so the male grabbed her and tried to pull her back into the vehicle. A struggle ensued for approximately ten seconds until the female broke free and ran to her dorm. While the incident was recorded on the university camera system a suspect was never identified for the attempted Unlawful Imprisonment. ‘This incident should have been classified as dating violence, as defined by 20 U.S. Code § 1092 (O(1)\(F ii) yet no Clery notification was ever issued by the University. 9. On December 1, 2017 at approximately 2:30pm a student arranged for a drug transaction with a non-student who came on to campus to purchase drugs. The two met outside the dormitory hall and walked to the student’s room. At one point, the non-student grabbed for the student’s wallet and ultimately a physical altercation occurred. The non-student at one point lifted up his shirt and showed what appeared to be a firearm (later determined to be a pellet gun) in an effort to get the victim to comply. Upon the attempted forcible theft as well as display of this weapon, whether it was actually a firearm or not, this crime became an attempted robbery. The non-student with the pellet gun was not immediately identified and even though he was ultimately identified and arrested more than a week later, no Clery notification was ever sent. These are just a handful of incidents in which the University has failed to put out timely or any safety warnings to the college community. The Clery Act requires schools to issue timely ‘warnings “if there is a current or ongoing threat to students or campus safety”. ‘These crimes listed in this letter are clear incidents where the University has failed to issue timely warnings ‘upon current or ongoing threats to the campus community. T believe these notifications were purposely not disseminated, or delayed until such a time as a suspect was in custody, to keep the university’s desired image as a safe and a friendly place - during times when it was anything but that. Furthermore, | believe that the State University of New York at Albany has become a moreDecember 29, 2017 U.S. Department of Education Federal Student Aid ~ Clery Act Compliance Division Page 5 dangerous environment in recent years as evidenced by its 2016 Annual Security Report for Clery (htp://police.albany.edw/ASR.pdf) which shows increases in major crimes: Rape 2014 2015 2016 4 ea 27 Burglary 2014 2015 2016 5 9 21 Dating Violence 2014 2015 2016 16 7 46 The Clery Act was enacted to ensure safety for the campus community, but SUNY Albany’s repeated and systematic violations of the Clery Act thwart that very purpose and, as tabulated above, some categories of serious crime on the campus have experienced major increases. Nota week goes by these days without hearing about terrible violent acts at educational institutions and other locations, in which countless victims were killed and savagely wounded. I will not stand by as SUNY Albany not only fails to act, but apparently, purposely avoids reporting crimes occurring on campus. Again, the Clery Act was enacted to keep colleges and universities safe, and the Department of Fducation was assigned the responsibility to ensure institutions complied with this important and crucial law. Iam entrusting that you will exercise due diligence and conduct a proper, timely and thorough investigation of SUNY Albany and its apparent systematic efforts at failing to make timely notifications. I will reserve the right to send copies of this letter to different state and federal public officials. ‘Additionally, the Board of Directors of the PBA of NYS may direct me to release this leter to the press. Thank you for your anticipated actions on this matter which affects thousands of students, staff, and faculty at the University at Albany. Sincerely, SD es. Daniel M. De Federicis Executive Director and Counsel