A. Emergency Situations
In any emergency situation, or to report an incident that has taken place on campus, contact Security Services (McIntyre Hall, Suite 011, 253.879.3311). Security Services is a first responder to on-campus emergencies including dispatching emergency medical services. Security Services takes reports of incidents, conducts investigations of alleged college regulation violations or crimes, maintains records of incidents for reporting requirements and forwards incident reports to the City of Tacoma Police Department when appropriate. Security Services also serves as a dispatch unit for university personnel, and will notify the Dean of Students (and/or the Student Affairs on-call staff member and the Chief Diversity Officer), so these staff members can respond and work directly with the targeted student(s) or group(s). Members of the university community reserve the right to file reports with the Tacoma Police Department.

B. Where to report
If you or someone you know has recently been the victim of a hate crime or a bias incident, either on campus or in the general Tacoma area, please report as soon as possible so that appropriate follow-up can occur. There are several ways to report a hate crime or incident:

For reports made anonymously, please note that we cannot take further action unless you request on the form that someone contact you after we receive your report. Any of the listed persons can also help you to report the crime or bias incident to other offices or authorities. You might want to document a hate crime even if you report it anonymously, in case you decide later on to report it in person. If you're not sure whether what happened to you "counts" as a hate crime/incident, please contact one of the listed offices or persons for counsel and make an effort to report it. The more information we have, the more we can do to keep this campus safe for everyone.

C. Documenting an incident

If you suspect that you or someone you know has been the victim of a hate crime or a hate/bias incident, or have observed such an occurrence, or have had someone report to you, please immediately document what happened. Documentation includes providing a detailed account of the incident including date, time, location, names of involved individuals including any witness names and contact information, and other pertinent information that may assist the University of Puget Sound and if, relevant, Tacoma Police Department in responding to the incident.

Depending on the nature of the incident, documentation might include the following steps:

  1. Be sure that you and anyone with you are safe before you do anything else. If anyone (including yourself) is injured, get medical help right away.
  2. If a crime is in progress, or if there is an immediate emergency, call 911 and report that there is a hate crime in progress.
  3. Do not erase or remove graffiti, vandalism or public postings until it can be photographed and documented by a member of Security Services or responding staff member.
  4. If the incident was verbal, please try to write down what was said.
  5. If the incident is in the form of e-mail, keep the email in your in-box. Do not delete, alter, or forward the message.
  6. If the incident is in the form of social media, take a picture and report it. Do not delete.
  7. If the incident is in the form of a telephone call, do not engage in or encourage conversation. Please try to write down verbatim what was said by all parties.
  8. If there are any witnesses, ask them for their names and contact information. If you have time, collect written statements from them about what took place.