Personal Safety
Personal Safety Issues
Notre Dame Security and Police
Reporting a Crime
Sexual Assault
Counseling and Support
Escort and Transportation After Dark
Education, Advocacy, Prevention
Domestic Violence
‘Hate’ Crimes
Personal Safety Issues
There are a number of resources both on and off campus to help you reduce your susceptibility to crime and injury, and to respond effectively in threatening or unsettling circumstances. During this time of heightened concerns for security, please keep emergency phone numbers for police, fire department and legal assistance close at hand.
We carry several pamphlets from community agencies that review safety issues and provide effective tips for securing your home and person against crime.
Notre Dame Security and Police
Notre Dame Security and Police Home Page
The Notre Dame Security and Police web site offers a number of resources, including preventive strategies and tips for securing yourself and your valuables against crime, as well as important emergency numbers and contacts. There are also forms available on-line and procedures for reporting a crime and securing further assistance.
Reporting a Crime
Call boxes marked as emergency call stations for making contact with Notre Dame Security and Police are stationed throughout campus along footpaths. There are also phones at the main entrance of all residence halls and the presbytery behind the Basilica.
For immediate assistance when a crime is in progress call: 911.
For follow-up after a crime has been committed, call: Notre Dame Security and Police: 631-5555
Details of your report to University Security or City/County/State Police are always held in confidence. You may also opt to make an anonymous report through Silent Watch.
Off campus
South Bend Police Non-emergency information: 235-9201
Mishawaka Police – 258-1678
St Joseph County Police/Sheriff – 235-9611
Indiana Highway Patrol – 233-1123
You may make an anonymous report regarding a crime you have witnessed to the South Bend Police Department through the Crime Stoppers program: (574) 288-STOP
Please report all incidents of crime to Notre Dame Security and Police, in addition to any other off-campus authority.
Sexual Assault
Contact Notre Dame Security and Police or the nearest police authority. You should also seek medical attention and preserve all physical evidence. If you are on campus at the time of an assault and a student, you may seek assistance from University Security or University Health Services in arranging for transportation to St. Joseph Medical Center, which has a specially trained staff and facilities for collecting evidence and offering immediate support and counsel.
If you are the spouse of a student or a non-degree seeking scholar, you may seek assistance through University Security or go directly to St. Joseph Medical Center.
When off campus, you should go directly to St. Joseph Medical Center. Reporting a sexual assault to University Security or City/County Police or seeking medical attention does not commit you to pursuing further legal or disciplinary action against an assailant. You will, however, be counseled as to your options.
Counseling and Support
Many who have been victimized by a criminal act, seek counseling and advice about how to recover a sense of a security and well-being. You will find several resources for students and spouses on campus through:
University Counseling Center: 631-7336
Victim’s Resource Person: 631-8637
Pastoral Support-Campus Ministry: 631-7800
International scholars and research assistants refer to the Employee Assistance Program Employee Assistance Program: 287-1879
You may also opt to seek support through Sex Offense Services, St. Joseph Co.’s rape-crisis agency, open 24-hours a day: 289-4357 (289-HELP)
Escort and Transportation After Dark
On campus
Safewalk-campus escort Call 631-BLUE between 8pm and 2am or after these hours, 631-5555
Parking Lot Shuttle
Education, Advocacy, Prevention
On campus
CARE-Campus Alliance for Rape Elimination, 300 LaFortune Student Center
RAD-Rape Aggression Defense
Women’s Resource Center, 300 LaFortune Center
Off campus
South Bend Police
Websites:
Personal Security
Personal Safety Checklist
10 Important Safety Tips for Women
Domestic Violence
According to Indiana’s Clark County Prosecutor’s Office:
Domestic Violence is a violent confrontation between family or household members involving physical harm, sexual assault, or fear of physical harm. Family or household members include spouses / former spouses, those in (or formerly in) a dating relationship, adults related by blood or marriage, and those who have a biological or legal parent-child relationship.
Settling into a new academic, national and linguistic culture can create frustrations, tensions and misunderstandings that lead to violence. It is important to realize that in the United States, the expectation is that a couple or a family should openly come to terms with the problem of emotional or physical abuse and that the community should assist in providing care and counseling for those affected.
Please see the following site for:
- A list of warning signs that signify whether you may be a victim or a perpetrator of domestic violence
- How to respond to protect yourself and your family from domestic violence
- Legal definitions of domestic violence
- Legal responses: Filing a complaint, criminal charges, protection orders
- Family and Marital Counseling options
- Other important link
Local resources for assistance in instances of domestic violence:
If you are in imminent physical danger, call 911.
In cases where you feel that you are subject to a pattern of abusive behavior, please seek guidance and support. The following agencies will assist you in locating the appropriate resources to address problems of domestic abuse for both victims and perpetrators.
On campus
Students and Spouses/Partners may seek services through the University Counseling Center.
Pastoral Support is offered through Campus Ministries to all.
Off campus
International Scholars and Research Assistants may seek services through the Employee Assistance Program.
Direct contacts for sexual assault intervention and counseling:
Crisis Intervention Hotline open 24 hours a day: 232-3344
Sexual Offenses Services: 289-4357 (289-HELP)
Making a "Personal Safety" Plan from National Coalition Against Domestic Violence
“Hate” Crimes
It is of growing concern throughout the United States and in the State of Indiana that those singled out for abuse or violence exclusively on the basis of particular qualities or creeds, should be protected from harm by law.
This year the Indiana General Assembly passed bias crime reporting legislation that defines a bias crime as follows: "an offense in which the person who committed the offense knowingly or intentionally: (a) selected the person who was injured; or (b) damaged or otherwise affected property by the offense because of the color, creed, disability, national origin, race, religion, or sexual orientation of the injured person or of the owner or occupant of the affected property was associated with any other recognizable group or affiliation." (Section 1. IC 5-2-5-1; House Enrolled Act No. 1011, Effective July 1, 2000)
For more information about hate crimes, how to protect your self and how to respond:
Indiana Civil Rights Commission
If you believe that you have been the target of such a crime, please report the incidence promptly to the Notre Dame Security and Police Department who will offer support and legal counsel.