The objective of our audit was to determine whether the University of North Georgia (North Georgia) had controls to ensure that it reported complete and accurate campus crime statistics under the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act).
North Georgia did not have effective controls to ensure that it reported complete and accurate Clery Act crime statistics. North Georgia had processes for activities related to crime reporting under the Clery Act, including identifying its Clery Act geography, requesting crime statistics from local law enforcement agencies, identifying campus security authorities (CSAs) and collecting crime reports from CSAs, processing and compiling the crime information, and reporting the annual Clery Act crime statistics by the reporting deadline. However, these processes did not provide reasonable assurance that the reported crime statistics would be complete and accurate. Additionally, North Georgia did not follow all applicable Clery Act requirements and guidance, which, if followed, would help support the completeness and accuracy of the reported crime statistics.
We made five recommendations, including that North Georgia design and implement effective internal controls over the completeness and accuracy of its Clery Act crime statistics. North Georgia should also conduct a comprehensive review of its records for calendar years 2015–2017 to identity all reportable Clery Act crimes and amend its reported crime statistics to correct any errors in the reported statistics. We also recommend that FSA determine whether it should take action against North Georgia for the Clery Act violations identified in this report.
Data Quality and Reporting
This was one of two audits we conducted on this topic; see also our report on the University of Texas at San Antonio and other reports involving the Clery Act.