UH Hilo
Criteria for Issuing a Clery Timely Warning Notice or a Security Alert Notification
UH Hilo's criteria page defines two distinct campus-safety messages: a Clery Timely Warning Notice (for Clery Act crimes representing a serious or continuing threat) and a non-Clery Security Alert (typically a series of property crimes), with the decision to issue either made jointly by the Vice Chancellor for Administrative Affairs and the Director of Campus Security. Both message types are distributed through the opt-in UH Alert email and text system, separate from the campus's broader emergency-notification process for immediate threats.
Read the official policyInstitution
University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo
Public Masters · HI
~2,781 studentsUH Alert (Rave Alert)
In the policy’s own words
What the policy says
Timely warning triggerverbatim
Clery Timely Warning notices will be issued to students and employees upon confirmation of a significant emergency, dangerous situation, incident or crime, impacting the campus community and/or the surrounding area.
- — Establishes the threshold for a formal Clery Timely Warning — confirmation of a qualifying emergency, situation, incident, or crime affecting the campus and/or surrounding area.
Security Alert tier (non-Clery)verbatim
University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo uses a Security Alert System to notify students and employees when it is determined that there is a series of criminal activity, usually property crime related or other criminal activity that is not subject to the timely warning standard required by the Clery Act.
- — Defines the second, non-Clery message tier — used for crime series (often property crime) that fall below the Clery timely-warning standard.
Timing standardverbatim
The warning should be issued as soon as pertinent information is available, because the intent of a Clery timely warning is to alert the campus community of continuing threats, especially concerning safety, thereby enabling community members to protect themselves.
- — States the 'as soon as pertinent information is available' timing standard and ties it to the protective purpose of a timely warning.
Decision authorityverbatim
The decision to issue a Clery Timely Warning Notice or a Security Alert is made in coordination and consultation between the Vice Chancellor for Administrative Affairs and the Director of Campus Security.
- — Dual-authorization model — neither office can issue a notice unilaterally per the stated criteria.
At a glance
How this policy works
- When it activates
- A Clery Timely Warning Notice is issued upon confirmation of a significant emergency, dangerous situation, incident, or crime — specifically for any Clery Act crime that represents a serious or continuing threat to students and employees, occurring within the institution's Clery geography. A Security Alert is issued for a series of criminal activity (usually property-crime related) or other criminal/man-made incidents that are not subject to the Clery timely-warning standard.
- Who decides
- The decision to issue a Clery Timely Warning Notice or a Security Alert is made in coordination and consultation between the Vice Chancellor for Administrative Affairs and the Director of Campus Security.
- Timeliness standard
- The warning should be issued as soon as pertinent information is available; the issuance of a timely warning is decided case-by-case in light of the nature of the crime, the continuing danger to the campus community, and the possible risk of compromising law-enforcement efforts.
- Emergency notification vs. timely warning
- Explicitly separates Clery Timely Warning Notices (federally required for Clery crimes posing a serious/continuing threat) from non-Clery Security Alerts (a campus-defined category for crime series not meeting the Clery standard), and from the campus's separate immediate-threat emergency-notification process.
- Testing cadence
- Not specified on the criteria page.
- Scope & limits
- Timely Warning Notices apply to Clery Act crimes within the institution's Clery geography that pose a serious or continuing threat; Security Alerts cover crime series/other criminal activity falling outside the Clery timely-warning standard. The criteria page does not govern the immediate-threat emergency-notification process.
ChannelsEmailSmsWebsite
Analysis
Reading the policy
UH Hilo's criteria page draws a careful line between two non-emergency message categories. A **Clery Timely Warning Notice** is reserved for Clery Act crimes that 'represent a serious or continuing threat to the person and well-being of students and employees' and that occurred within the institution's Clery geography (on campus, in or on non-campus buildings or property, or on public property contiguous to campus). A **Security Alert**, by contrast, is the university's tool for situations 'not subject to the timely warning standard required by the Clery Act' — typically a series of property crimes or other man-made criminal activity. This two-track structure lets the campus communicate emerging crime patterns that do not legally trigger Clery without diluting the meaning of a formal timely warning.
On **timing**, the page states the warning 'should be issued as soon as pertinent information is available,' framing the purpose as enabling community members to protect themselves from continuing threats. The decision is explicitly fact-dependent and case-by-case, weighing the nature of the crime, the continuing danger to the community, and the risk of compromising law-enforcement efforts. **Authority** is clearly assigned: the choice to issue a Timely Warning or a Security Alert 'is made in coordination and consultation between the Vice Chancellor for Administrative Affairs and the Director of Campus Security' — a dual-authorization model rather than a single decision-maker.
For **Clery framing**, the criteria page covers only the timely-warning and security-alert tiers. UH Hilo's separate emergency-notification process — for a 'significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or employees occurring on campus' — is handled 'without delay' through additional channels described on the system's Types of Emergency Notification page (voice and text via UH Alert, campus message boards, local TV and radio, departmental phone trees, Campus Security megaphones, and press releases). **Channels** for the timely-warning and security-alert messages themselves are the opt-in UH Alert email and text notifications, into which students and staff are directed to enroll. The criteria page does not publish a testing cadence; system testing is documented elsewhere in UH Hilo's Clery materials and the UH Alert system overview.
Takeaways
Key findings
UH Hilo maintains a two-track non-emergency message structure: a Clery Timely Warning Notice for Clery crimes posing a serious/continuing threat, and a non-Clery Security Alert for crime series (often property crime) outside the Clery standard.
Issuance of either notice requires joint coordination and consultation between the Vice Chancellor for Administrative Affairs and the Director of Campus Security.
The stated timing standard is 'as soon as pertinent information is available,' with case-by-case judgment about the crime's nature, continuing danger, and the risk of compromising law enforcement.
Both message types are delivered through the opt-in UH Alert (Rave) email and text system, which students and staff are directed to join.
The criteria page deliberately separates these notices from UH Hilo's immediate-threat emergency-notification process, which is initiated 'without delay' through a broader set of channels.
Policy, meet practice
When this system actually fired
1 documented time UH Hilo’s alert system was used, from the case archive.
Provenance
Sources
- Official
- Official
- Official
- Official
Tags
policyemergency-notificationtimely-warningsecurity-alertcleryterritory-pacifichawaii
Added 2026-06-21Updated 2026-06-21Via ingestion