What is the university doing to prevent a tragedy like this from happening again?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The university has accepted the independent review team\u2019s 30 findings and recommendations in their entirety and is implementing the recommended changes. The university acknowledges serious mistakes and weaknesses were found and officials from across campus are working every day to correct those mistakes and to provide a safe environment for students, faculty, staff and visitors.<\/p>\n

It seems concerning that Rowland was allowed on campus after Lauren and the McCluskeys reported concerns about him. Why wasn\u2019t he prohibited from returning to campus?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The University of Utah, located in Salt Lake City, is an open public research university and home to a major academic medical center; each weekday, the university sees upward of 60,000 students, staff, faculty, patients and visitors on campus.<\/p>\n

In terms of Rowland\u2019s access to Lauren\u2019s campus housing, this case brought to light deficiencies in enforcing existing policies about non-university affiliated overnight guests. The university has already taken steps to educate staff and residents about its housing policies and to provide ongoing training to both students and housing staff of the consequences of not following those policies.\u00a0 The Campus Safety Taskforce is also evaluating other measures that might provide better monitoring of the housing safety policies and detection of those who violate those policies.<\/p>\n

In addition, the university\u2019s Housing and Residential Education program has streamlined its reporting protocol. A single point of contact now takes complaints or concerns regarding interpersonal relationship issues and that person interfaces directly with the university\u2019s Behavioral Intervention Team (BIT). The BIT includes representatives from campus police, housing, campus counseling services, victim advocates and the dean of students. In Lauren\u2019s case, the BIT was never fully activated or fully made aware of Lauren\u2019s concerns.<\/p>\n

Is anyone at the university being disciplined in relation to this incident? <\/strong><\/h4>\n

The university does not comment on or publicize employee discipline. This case brought to light gaps in training, awareness and enforcement of university policies, as well as the need to update and change certain policies in both its housing and police departments. All of the independent review team\u2019s recommendations for improving and changing certain processes have been implemented or are in the process of being implemented.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

What actions by the University of Utah Department of Public Safety have been completed or are in progress?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Completed:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
• The U\u2019s Department of Public Safety (UUDPS) has implemented a directive requiring a mandatory offender information check when a suspect has been identified in criminal cases and all matters more significant than routine traffic stops.<\/li>\n
• UUDPS has implemented a protocol requiring all important information gathered by security personnel be added to the police records management system.<\/li>\n
• UUDPS has increased mandatory trainings its officers receive on active shooter, interpersonal violence, sexual assault, trauma-informed interviewing, use of Narcan and crisis intervention. It also has increased resources for its Rape Aggression Defense program, which provides self-defense training to women (students, faculty, staff and their female children).<\/li>\n
• UUDPS has implemented a new directive that, when possible, same-day contact with a victim be made at the beginning of any case with the potential to affect personal safety.<\/li>\n
• UUDPS officers and detectives are now routinely making use of law enforcement databases.<\/li>\n
• UUDPS has adopted procedural changes that coordinate communication among relevant personnel, specifically detectives assigned to cases and the on-call detective.<\/li>\n
• UUDPS has implemented procedures to ensure that critical emails and voicemails are addressed in a timely manner regardless of whether an officer or detective is off-duty.<\/li>\n
• UUDPS has implemented a directive that, when possible, interviews with complainants and victims be conducted in a private area.<\/li>\n
• UUDPS has issued a directive to officers and detectives that in-person meetings, whenever possible, be held with complainants\/victims in criminal cases and significant matters beyond routine traffic stops.<\/li>\n
• UUDPS has met with the leadership of the Center for Student Wellness to discuss mutual concerns and ways to improve communication, coordination and cooperation.<\/li>\n
• UUDPS has applied for national accreditation through IACLEA.<\/li>\n
• The university has opened a new Emergency Coordination Center, located in the S.J. Quinney College of Law Building.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

  In progress:<\/strong><\/p>\n

  \n
  • UUDPS anticipates its officers will complete the full Lethality Assessment Protocol training by spring 2019. The assessment will be incorporated in its practices going forward.<\/li>\n
  • UUDPS is making key hires immediately. These include:\n
    \n
    • Two detectives<\/li>\n
    • A victim advocate<\/li>\n
    • A part-time evidence technician<\/li>\n
    • An administrative lieutenant<\/li>\n
    • A public information\/community relations officer<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
    • The victim advocate UUDPS is hiring will provide advocacy services through UUDPS and coordinate advocacy efforts with the Center for Student Wellness and Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action.<\/li>\n
    • Detectives will work closely with the victim advocate to ensure that reports of potential interpersonal violence are appropriately handled. Police staff will also receive regular training on various subjects, including interpersonal violence.<\/li>\n
    • The university will be conducting education and training for all campus employees and students regarding procedures and protocols, which are in line with state law, for the reporting to the Department of Public Safety of actual or possible campus firearms violations.<\/li>\n
    • UUDPS will review practices of universities who use specialized domestic violence units and determine whether it would be beneficial to implement such an approach.<\/li>\n
    • UUDPS will enhance training to ensure that employees are familiar with and understand what information is available in law enforcement databases and how to use it. This is occurring now and will be ongoing.<\/li>\n
    • UUDPS is reviewing its policing policies as recommended by the review team and updating as needed to make them more specific to campus policing.<\/li>\n
    • UUDPS has met with the Utah Department of Corrections to discuss mutual concerns and facilitate better coordination and cooperation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      It seems that Lauren\u2019s case should have been prioritized and followed more closely by university police. Why didn\u2019t things move more urgently?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n

      The university has acknowledged that UUDPS viewed Lauren McCluskey\u2019s case through the lens of an extortion case, rather than as a case of potential interpersonal violence. As a result, there was an insufficient sense of urgency regarding the case.<\/p>\n

      The independent review team pointed out in both its report and during its press conference the need for changes to processes and additional resources for the university\u2019s Department of Public Safety. Those changes, which have already been implemented include:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
      • Increased training to help police officers identify and appropriately address situations of potential interpersonal violence.<\/li>\n
      • Requiring detectives to work closely with victim advocates to ensure that reports of potential interpersonal violence are appropriately handled.<\/li>\n
      • Adopting procedural changes that coordinate communication among relevant personnel\u2014specifically detectives assigned to cases and the on-call detective.<\/li>\n
      • Implementing procedures to ensure that critical emails and voicemails are addressed in a timely manner regardless of whether an officer or detective is off-duty.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        The parents of Lauren McCluskey have raised important questions and understandable concerns about campus safety and whether the university\u2019s public safety, student housing and other departments did everything they could to prevent the crime that took their daughter\u2019s life. Lauren\u2019s friends, teachers and all members of the university community grieve the loss of this vibrant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":6924,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1495],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-university-of-utah-statements"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.unews.umc.utah.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8142"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.unews.umc.utah.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.unews.umc.utah.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.unews.umc.utah.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.unews.umc.utah.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8142"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/stage.unews.umc.utah.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8147,"href":"https:\/\/stage.unews.umc.utah.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8142\/revisions\/8147"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.unews.umc.utah.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.unews.umc.utah.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.unews.umc.utah.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.unews.umc.utah.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}