{
  "id": "2024-03-27-penn-state-berks-stalking-vawa",
  "slug": "penn-state-berks-stalking-vawa-2024-03-27",
  "institution": {
    "name": "Pennsylvania State University, Berks",
    "shortName": "Penn State Berks",
    "state": "PA",
    "type": "public-r1",
    "alertSystemName": "PSUAlert",
    "alertPlatform": "Rave Mobile Safety",
    "enrollment": 1700
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2024-03-27",
    "type": "stalking",
    "cleryCategory": "timely-warning",
    "headline": "Student reports same-day stalking by a known person; timely warning issued",
    "headlinePublic": "Student reports same-day stalking by a known person; timely warning issued",
    "summary": "On March 27, 2024, [Penn State Berks](https://berks.psu.edu/) University Police received a report of stalking that occurred between 8:00 AM EDT and 3:30 PM EDT that same day. The student victim reported a known person had engaged in [stalking behavior](https://timelywarnings.psu.edu/berks/24bk00086) including unwanted communications and physical contact. In Penn State's centralized archive, stalking warnings such as case 24BK00086 appear far less often than the sexual-offense warnings that predominate, per [Daily Collegian reporting](https://www.psucollegian.com/features/what-to-know-about-timely-warnings/article_339dbda8-70b7-11ef-8a9a-3b91c908dec2.html).",
    "outcome": "Investigation ongoing. Subject was known to the victim. Warning posted with Clery/VAWA continuing-threat language; suspect identification not made public to protect investigation and survivor.",
    "resolution": "under-investigation"
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "initial",
      "timestampApprox": "Posted late March / early April 2024 following the March 27, 2024 report",
      "channel": "email",
      "verbatimText": "Stalking - VAWA has occurred at Berks\n\nCase Number: 24BK00086\n\nUniversity Police received a report of stalking on March 27, 2024. The reported incident occurred between 8:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. on March 27, 2024 at an unknown location on the Berks Campus. The victim, a student, reported that a known person has been involved in stalking behavior including unwanted communications and physical contact.\n\nIt can be assumed that conditions continue to exist that may pose a threat to members and guests of the University community.\n\nThis warning is being issued in compliance with the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act and the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act (VAWA).\n\nMembers of the campus community are urged to use caution. Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact Penn State University Police at (610) 396-6111.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://timelywarnings.psu.edu/berks/24bk00086",
      "sourceDescription": "Penn State Timely Warnings (timelywarnings.psu.edu), Berks campus, case 24BK00086",
      "annotations": [
        "Penn State Berks is a small ~1,700-student commuter-heavy campus in Reading, PA, even small campuses have full Clery obligations",
        "The incident-window format (8:00 AM EDT to 3:30 PM EDT on the same day) reflects a discrete reporting episode, though stalking is a course-of-conduct offense",
        "The 'known person' framing is significant, most VAWA-covered stalking on campus involves someone known to the victim, in contrast with the public stranger-danger narrative",
        "'Unwanted communications and physical contact' is unusually specific descriptive language for a Penn State warning; most Penn State warnings give little detail about the stalking course-of-conduct",
        "The 'BK' campus prefix and 86th case-number suggest moderate police-report volume for the year at this branch campus",
        "Penn State's standardized continuing-threat language ('It can be assumed that conditions continue to exist') is the bright-line trigger across all 24 campuses",
        "The 'unknown location on the Berks Campus' phrasing is unusual, typically warnings cite a building; the vagueness suggests the cumulative course-of-conduct spans multiple locations"
      ],
      "characterCount": 897
    }
  ],
  "context": "[Penn State Berks](https://berks.psu.edu/) is a four-year branch campus of [Pennsylvania State University](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_State_University) located in [Reading, Pennsylvania](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading,_Pennsylvania), with approximately 1,700 students. Penn State maintains one of the most transparent and well-organized [VAWA timely-warning archives](https://timelywarnings.psu.edu/) in U.S. higher education, with case numbers, campus-specific URLs (here `/berks/`), and standardized continuing-threat language. According to the [Daily Collegian](https://www.psucollegian.com/features/what-to-know-about-timely-warnings/article_339dbda8-70b7-11ef-8a9a-3b91c908dec2.html), since January 2022 Penn State has issued 31 system-wide timely warnings, only two of which were stalking, despite stalking being one of the most common reported Clery-VAWA crimes. This March 2024 Berks warning is unusually detailed: it specifies that the suspect was 'known' to the victim and describes the course-of-conduct as 'unwanted communications and physical contact,' descriptors most Penn State warnings omit. The vague 'unknown location on the Berks Campus' framing reflects the cumulative-pattern nature of [stalking](https://www.justice.gov/ovw/violence-against-women-reauthorization-act-2013): unlike most Clery crimes, stalking is constituted by a course of conduct rather than a discrete event, which can span multiple campus locations.",
  "keyFindings": [
    "Penn State Berks is a small ~1,700-student campus that nonetheless maintains full VAWA timely-warning compliance",
    "The warning's 'known person' framing reflects research showing most campus stalking involves people known to the victim",
    "Unusually specific course-of-conduct language ('unwanted communications and physical contact') sets this warning apart from most Penn State VAWA notices",
    "Stalking warnings such as case 24BK00086 are far outnumbered by sexual-offense warnings in Penn State's archive, per Daily Collegian reporting, despite stalking being a commonly reported crime",
    "The 'unknown location on the Berks Campus' framing reflects stalking's course-of-conduct nature spanning multiple locations"
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Penn State Berks Timely Warning: Stalking VAWA (case 24BK00086)",
      "url": "https://timelywarnings.psu.edu/berks/24bk00086",
      "type": "official-archive"
    },
    {
      "title": "Penn State Timely Warnings centralized archive",
      "url": "https://timelywarnings.psu.edu/",
      "type": "official-archive"
    },
    {
      "title": "What to know about timely warnings (Daily Collegian)",
      "url": "https://www.psucollegian.com/features/what-to-know-about-timely-warnings/article_339dbda8-70b7-11ef-8a9a-3b91c908dec2.html",
      "type": "student-newspaper"
    },
    {
      "title": "Penn State Berks 2024 Annual Security Report",
      "url": "https://www.police.psu.edu/sites/police/files/2024-09/penn-state-berks-2024-final.pdf",
      "type": "clery-asr"
    }
  ],
  "confidence": "high",
  "tags": [
    "stalking",
    "vawa",
    "timely-warning",
    "branch-campus",
    "public-r1",
    "penn-state",
    "berks",
    "centralized-archive",
    "known-suspect",
    "course-of-conduct"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-05-03",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-05-03",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}