Annual Security and Fire Safety Document Available to University Community
Mon, 10/05/2015 - 03:51pm
The annual Security and Fire Safety compliance document is now available on the University of Southern Mississippi Police Department's website at http://www.usm.edu/police/annual-securityfire-safety-report.
A physical copy is also available to Southern Miss students and employees at the University Police Department offices in Bond Hall West, next to the University Parking Garage, on the Hattiesburg campus; on the Gulf Park campus in Long Beach at the Gulf Coast Division Police Department, 212 Bear Pointe Drive; and in room 107 of the Field Studies Building at the Gulf Coast Research Lab in Ocean Springs.
The website and booklet contain information regarding campus security and personal safety, including topics such as crime prevention, fire safety, University police law enforcement authority, crime reporting policies, missing person report procedures, disciplinary procedures and other matters of importance related to security and safety on campus.
The online and hard copy document also contain information about crime statistics for the three previous calendar years concerning reported crimes that occurred on campus, in certain off-campus buildings, or property owned or controlled by Southern Miss; and on public property within or immediately adjacent to and accessible from campus.
Information regarding missing person reports and firearms policy follow:
Missing Person Report Procedure
If a member of the University community has reason to believe that a student who resides
in on-campus housing is missing, he or she should immediately notify the University
Police at 601.266.4986. USM Police will generate a missing person report and initiate
an investigation.
After investigating the missing person report, USM Police will notify the student's emergency contact, or confidentially identified individual, immediately after the student is determined to be missing. If the missing student is under the age of 18 and is not an emancipated individual, USM Police will notify the student's parents or legal guardian immediately after it has been determined the student is missing. The USM Police Department will inform local and surrounding law enforcement agencies immediately of any student determined to be missing.
In addition to registering an emergency contact, students residing in on-campus housing have the option to identify, confidentially, an individual to be contacted by Southern Miss in the event the student is determined to be missing. The confidential contact should be someone who will be likely to know your location and you wish contacted if you are missing. Students who wish to identify a confidential contact can do so by completing the Missing Person Contact Information on the Resident Student Data Card. This confidential contact information will be accessible only to authorize campus officials and law enforcement officers, and it will not be disclosed outside of a missing person investigation.
Firearms Policy
Southern Miss is committed to maintaining a safe and secure environment supporting
the academic mission of the University. According to the University's Firearms Policy,
members of the Southern Miss community, including students, faculty, staff as well
as visitors to any Southern Miss campus location are prohibited from possessing firearms,
explosives, weapons, or any item that may be construed as such on the premises of
the University or in any building under University control. This prohibition applies
regardless of whether a federal or state license to possess the same has been issued
to the possessor.
Failure to comply with State law or IHL and University policies will result in disciplinary action or criminal prosecution, or both. See University Code of Student Conduct, T, and related A, B and C. See also Mississippi Institute of Higher Learning (IHL) Policy 1106. See also Section 97-37-17 of the Mississippi Code, which could make it a felony for any student to possess or carry, whether openly or concealed, any firearm on University property.
For more information regarding the Security and Fire Safety Document, contact the University Police Department at 601.266.4986 or the Dean of Students Office at 601.266.6028.