University Detective's Bureau

The University Detective's Bureau investigates crimes against persons and property, as well as e-mail and telephone harassment at BGSU.

Crimes Against Persons

Crimes against persons, as defined in the Ohio Criminal Law Handbook Section 1.59, is defined as any crime that includes an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, or association. Some examples of a crime against persons are:

• assault
• kidnapping
• rape
• robbery
• theft

Crimes Against Property

Crimes against property, as defined in the Ohio Criminal Law Handbook Section 1.59, is defined as any crime that involves real or personal property, tangible or intangible property, or any interest or license in such property. Some examples of crimes against property are:

• breaking and entering
• burglary
• theft
• vandalism

E-mail Harassment

With the increasing popularity of the Internet comes an increased problem of criminal activity via the Internet. E-mail harassment has become a recent problem, not only at the University level, but all around the world. If you receive harassing messages, be sure to save a copy of the message. The message can contain very important tracking information to determine its origin.

Many of the labs on campus allow you to check your e-mail with a program called Eudora. With this program, you make your own e-mail disk with only your account on it. Students who forget their disks in the computer labs risk the possibility of another person taking that disk and sending e-mail to other people. Please remember that a password is not required to send messages, only to receive them. Anyone with that disk can send out a message with YOUR name and account on it. If you think this may be happening, report it to the University Police immediately.

Telephone Harassment

Telephone harassment is a very common form of harassment. The Ohio Criminal Law Handbook defines telephone harassment in section 2917.21 as follows:

Telephone harassment is said to have occurred when an individual knowingly

• makes a telephone call,
• causes a telephone call to be made, or
• permits a telephone call to be made from a telephone under the offender's control.

The individual must have the purpose to

• abuse,
• threaten,
• annoy, or
• harass another individual.

It is considered telephone harassment if the caller does any of the following:

• Fails to identify the caller to the recipient of the telephone call and makes the telephone call with the purpose to harass, abuse, or annoy any person at the premises to which the telephone call is made, whether or not conversation takes place during the telephone call.
• Describes, suggests, requests, or proposes that the caller, recipient, of the telephone call, or any other person engage in, any sexual activity as defined in division (C) of section 2907.01 of the Revised Code, and the recipient of the telephone call, or another person at the premises to which the telephone call is made, has requested, in a previous telephone call or in the immediate telephone call, the caller not to make a telephone call to the recipient of the telephone call or to the premises to which the telephone call is made.
• During the telephone call, violates section 2903.21 of the Revised Code.
• Knowingly states to the recipient of the telephone call that the caller intends to cause damage to or destroy public or private property, and the recipient of the telephone call, any member of the family of the recipient of the telephone call, or any other person who resides at the premises to which the telephone call is made owns, leases, resides, or works in, will at the time of the destruction or damaging be near or in, has the responsibility of protecting, or insures the property that will be destroyed or damaged.
• Knowingly makes the telephone call to the recipient of the telephone call, to another person at the premises to which the telephone call is made, or to the premises to which the telephone call is made, and the recipient of the telephone call, or another person at the premises to which the telephone call is made, previously has told the caller not to call the premises to which the telephone call is made or not to call any persons at the premises to which the telephone call is made.

If you are receiving harassing phone calls, try to detect a pattern of when the calls come in. If you live on campus pay attention to whether the call is coming from on campus or off campus. Only for the purpose of prosecuting the offender can a phone tap be put onto your telephone. If you have a roommate, or roommates, all parties must be in agreement to this decision.

Crime Stoppers
419-352-0077

Crime Stoppers is a city hotline that you can call anonymously to report crimes in progress in the city of Bowling Green, or to give information regarding a crime that has already been committed. If your tip leads to the identification of the perpetrator, you will receive a cash reward.

Crime Connection
419-372-6000

Crime Connection is a campus hotline you can call anonymously to report crimes in progress on campus or to give information regarding a crime that has already been committed. If your tip leads to the identification of the perpetrator, you will receive a cash reward. Be sure to include as many details as possible, such as the date and time of the incident, the location, and a description of the perpetrator.