Policy:

Campus Safety thoroughly investigate all reports of missing persons.

Procedure for On-Campus Students:

Following are the procedures that the institution must follow when a student who resides in an on-campus student housing facility is determined to have been missing for 24 hours. Students, employees, or other individuals receiving missing student information should immediately contact Residence Life Coordinator on Duty at (229) 591-0276. 

During the housing application and annual contract renewal processes, students living on campus are obligated to provide at least one emergency contact to the Department of Residence Life. This information is registered confidentially to the extent allowed legally and may be accessible only to Department of Residence Life staff, and other GSW staff members with emergency response job responsibilities, in the case of emergencies involving students such as death, life threatening injuries or a missing person report. Residential students may update their emergency contact information at any time by logging in to register their emergency contact information at gsw.starrezhous.com.  

On-campus students have the option each year to designate a missing person contact to be notified within 24 hours of the determination by campus or local law enforcement that the student is missing.

This information will be kept confidential to the extent allowed legally, being accessible only to authorized campus officials and disclosed only to law enforcement personnel in furtherance of a missing person investigation. If the student designated a contact person, the institution will notify the contact person within 24 hours that the student is missing. Regardless of whether a student has designated an emergency contact person to be notified, if a student is less than 18 years old and not an emancipated individual, Federal Law requires that the institution notify a custodial parent or guardian within 24 hours of the determination that the student is missing in addition to notifying any contact person designated by the student.

Residence Life staff and other responsible institutional personnel should follow the instructions below upon receiving a report of a missing student:

1. Gather needed information from reporting person and contact the Residence Life Coordinator on Duty. The Coordinator on Duty will make attempts to locate the student in a reasonable amount of time (2 hours). If the student resides in on-campus housing managed by a non-Residence Life entity, the reporting person should immediately contact Campus Safety (see step #2) rather than Residence Life so that an investigation can be initiated.
2. If student is not found within the reasonable amount of time or if anything concerning is found during the initial fact finding, the report becomes an official missing student report. Any official missing student report must be referred immediately to Campus Safety by the Coordinator on Duty with all information provided regarding the missing student so that an investigation can be initiated.
3. If known, the Coordinator on Duty will provide Campus Safety with the names and contact information of any people designated as a “missing person contact” found in the “Emergency Contact” database on the Residence Life Intranet (StarRez).
4. If the student has designated a contact person, Campus Safety will notify the designated emergency contact(s) within 24 hours. If the student is under 18 years of age and is not emancipated, UPD will notify the student’s custodial parent or guardian and any other designated contact person within 24 hours. Regardless of whether the student has identified a contact person, is above the age of 18, or is an emancipated minor, Campus Safety will inform the local law enforcement that has jurisdiction in the area that the student is missing within 24 hours.
5. If for some reason it becomes necessary for Residence Life staff members to contact the designated emergency contacts, this should only be done by the Coordinator on Duty or by the Director of Residential and Campus Life.
6. Contact other Residence Life staff members as indicated in the Department of Residence Life Incident Notification Matrix in the live-on-campus staff manuals.
7. Submit an incident report to the “Maxient Conduct Manager” system.

Students, employees, or other individuals receiving missing student information should immediately contact Residence Life Coordinator on Duty at (229) 591-0276. Any official missing student report must be referred immediately to Campus Safety at (229) 931-2245 with all information available regarding the missing student so that an investigation can be initiated. Campus Safety will notify local law enforcement within 24 hours of the determination that a student living in on-campus housing is missing, unless the local law enforcement agency was the entity that made the determination that the student was missing. Regardless of whether the student has identified a contact person, is above the age of 18, or is an emancipated minor, UPD will inform the local law enforcement agency that has jurisdiction in the area that the student is missing within 24 hours.

Notification of this policy will be made directly to all residential students during annual housing meetings and is available online in the Student Handbook and in the Annual Security and Fire Safety Report.