The TJC Police Department published the annual Fire and Campus Safety report in accordance with the Clery Act, which requires colleges to share information about crimes on campus or situations that may pose a risk to students on campus. Each report provides the statistics for the previous year.

TJC is taking proactive measures to enhance security and promote a safe environment for students and staff.

The annual Campus and Fire Safety Report for 2024 showed an increase in reported crimes like burglary and rape on TJC’s central campus for 2023, and a decrease in reports of drug and alcohol violations. Police Chief Michael Seale and Risk Management Professional Jeff Williams discussed measures being taken to ensure campus safety. 

“Currently, there’s three projects ongoing,” Williams said. “Updating of cameras, access control and fire alarms. And I believe facilities is working quite closely with it in that as well.”

Seale said students may notice increased officer visibility around campus, as TJC police are working to increase availability around campus to encourage a relationship of trust with the community. 

“One of the biggest things that we’ve been trying to do is be out more, be seen more. So we’re encouraging building checks, building quad walks, those types of things,” Seale said. “We’re seeing a lot more people that are coming to us reporting things.”

Seale expressed his desire for students to come forward with any concerns. 

“That’s kind of our end goal, is to get more people to report things to us. And I’ve said this a lot of times before, we would rather get something reported to us 999 times and it not be something to not get that one thing reported, and actually be something,” Seale said. 

In addition to Risk Management working closely with campus law enforcement to mitigate risk, the TJC Police Department works closely with Tyler PD to assist with incidents that may pose a risk to students from beyond the bounds of campus. In the fall semester of 2023 an aggravated assault incident that resulted in three arrests being made on the central campus was assisted by the Tyler PD. 

This event prompted a campuswide alert being sent to students. Something both Seale and Williams referred to as a “timely warning,” which is issued in the event of an ongoing danger to the campus. Adverse weather conditions, power outages and campus shut downs also warrant campuswide alerts. 

“One thing he [Williams] and I have been working on tremendously, [is] trying to get the word out on is the Guardian app. Download that Guardian app, you can hit a panic button on that Guardian app, and it’s going to come straight to our dispatch center,” Seale said. “It’s free to download. You download the app, log in, you’re using the TJC credentials, and then it automatically populates.” 

According to the report, crimes of burglary on the central campus have risen from six total reported cases in 2022 to eight total reported cases in 2023. Six of the eight reported cases in 2023 occurred in on-campus student housing facilities.

Seale offered this advice to students to help keep their belongings safe. 

“Make sure your items are secured. Make sure they’re locked up. Make sure you secure your vehicle. Make sure you secure your dorm room. Make sure you don’t leave your personal items laying out.” Seale said, “I can tell you from my experience, a lot of times kids will get up and they’ll leave their personal items, electronics, phone, backpack, etc, on a table. And they may just go to the restroom, or they may do something, and they may come back, and that backpack, laptop may be gone. [It] may not be necessarily stolen. [It] may just be, somebody noticed it for an extended period of time.”

The report also reflected a rise in reported cases of both dating violence and rape on campus property from 2022 to 2023. In 2022 there was one rape and one case of dating violence, all in on-campus housing facilities. In 2023 there were two cases of rape as well as two cases of dating violence. 

Seale expressed the importance of students being aware of their surroundings and ensuring a way to contact campus police if needed. He recommended that students program the main dispatch and backup numbers for the campus police department into their phone to avoid needing to go to the police website to find those phone numbers.

“So our main dispatch number is (903)-510-2800 that’s the main dispatch line. Our backup line is (903)-510-2222,” Seale said. 

There are also blue tower phones situated around campus available to students. 

“Those are backups in case, say, your cell phone’s dead. That is another direct line to us,” Seale said. “Everybody nowadays has a cell phone, but that cell phone’s limited by the amount of battery power it has, or something like that. So [if] something’s happening and there’s an emergency, but your phone’s dead, you can walk up, hit one of those buttons, and it’ll get you a direct line to our dispatcher.”

2023 reported crimes by type, location

The 2024 Annual Campus Safety and Fire Report provides the statistics of reported crimes on TJC campuses for the past three years (2021-2023). To download and view the full report, visit the Campus Police and Parking page of the TJC website. Graphics are screenshots of the report for the TJC Main Campus.