We previously relied on a homegrown system of paper files and Excel spreadsheets to track our Clery compliance efforts. While it functioned, it was not efficient. As the sole Clery Compliance Officer (CCO) at our institution, I spent more time maintaining these systems than working on compliance tasks. This was especially stressful in September when all the raw data needed to be synthesized into our Clery statistics. CleryEdge changed everything. What used to take me weeks to reconcile statistically now takes only a day or two. Tasks that used to take our local law enforcement months are now completed in a week. Instead of sifting through a massive audit trail in an Excel file, I can now easily search for specific cases or date ranges. The best aspect of CleryEdge is its continuous evolution. New features are regularly introduced or improved, enhancing the Clery compliance programs for all client institutions. Using CleryEdge gives my administration and me peace of mind, knowing that we are in compliance with the Clery Act.
We tried to build a system in-house, but it did not work the way I needed it to work. For me, what is beneficial, having the records centralized in one place is incredibility helpful. There is some up-front leg-work you have to do but once you see how everything works and connects, the system is incredibly helpful. Once I was onboarded and we got the foundational information, like my geography, in the platform, that allowed me to move forward every day with ease with managing incident reports and the like. The cost is very reasonable for the capabilities of the system. Customer support has been great in helping us onboard and I appreciate that they are very responsive when I ask a question or need help. I think CleryEdge will meet the goals of small school and large schools and everything in between.
I have looked at a number of software solutions to help me manage Clery program elements but didn't feel comfortable with them since I believed they created a false sense of security and introduced new compliance problems. As an office of one person (like most CCOs), I see CleryEdge as a very helpful tool and, since it's been developed in partnership with NACCOP experts, I have a lot of confidence in it. This year I entered my geography and sent all my letters to LEAs using the software. It was, for the first time ever, a pleasure to do. I know others who are using CleryEdge to manage and train their CSAs (this was the feature that originally attracted me to the software). I'm about to start using the Incident and Crime Log modules so I can enter incident details ONCE and quit the madness of maintaining multiple spreadsheets (Master DCL, 60-days DCL, and an Audit Trail for each of 18 campuses).
We have all of our “Super-CSA’s” actually add incident information into the CleryEdge, so having it as a resource dramatically simplifies our process of entering that information into the CleryEdge Audit Trail and Crime Log modules. We have worked to add our 300-400 campuses addresses in the system and our State Crimes codes so the Super-CSAs can correctly add incident reports. We appreciate being able to send an incident report link so CSAs can bookmark it and use that to enter incident reports into the system. Officers were previously forced to create incident reports in the RMS in order for us to get those reports into the Daily Crime Log. We now leverage CleryEdge for incidents that don't require officers to write a report in our RMS, such as an off campus crime in our expanded patrol jurisdiction, if we were otherwise able to get them into the Daily Crime Log, so we plan to have officers document those crimes in CleryEdge rather than writing a full report in our RMS to buy back some of the time that they are spending on those tasks. Customer support has been incredibly helpful in working through our unique needs as a large, public institution.
I love it! We put a link from CleryEdge on our Police Department website for people to report a crime or incident. That notifies our Clery Team immediately so we can review it for a potential timely warning notice, to assess it for the crime log, and to capture it in the audit trail. I really like the geography module, as it is assisting us in identifying more accurately the location of crimes. I am looking forward to using the CSA module and getting that process organized in CleryEdge. The customer service has been fantastic——the CleryEdge team is available whenever I call or email with a problem or question.
CleryEdge is the first and only software program available to aid institutions in their total compliance efforts. Having all your information in one place is a game changer. Before CleryEdge we would have several spreadsheets and separate documents to manage all our Clery requirements. Now with CleryEdge we can have it all in one place. This software has been developed by folks who thoroughly know Clery and will continue to add features that aid in compliance with this federal law. This gives us assurance that we are doing the right work in the right way!
I love that CleryEdge centralizes all of the Clery tasks. We are very excited that the system manages our CSAs and allows me to track the progress with CSA training. The Local Law Enforcement Agency information functionality is very helpful in managing all of our correspondence with agencies. I am very excited to get the system fully up and running for our campus. Customer support is very, very responsive to my questions.
CleryEdge has the capability to do everything we want it to do. We are excited to use it to manage all CSA workflows, including managing the lists, training, and the communication to request statistics. We also use CleryEdge to manage our daily crime log from the reports that come in from all different sources. Tracking travel and linking that to the law enforcement request letters is also great.