This is a report on the proceedings of a 2017 forum sponsored by the National Center for Campus Public Safety (NCCPS), which was attended by college chiefs of police and international student administrators from institutions of higher education across the country for the purpose of discussing the prevention of criminal victimization of international students attending U.S. institutions of higher education.
Representatives of the FBI and the federal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also participated in discussions to provide guidance on federal resources, funding, and training related to the issues addressed by the forum. One area discussed in countering crimes against international students was the building of partnerships on and off campus. The campus security agency should lead efforts to develop partnerships with international student organizations on campus and law enforcement officials and international groups in the local community. Forum participants suggested ways to build trust and understanding between campus safety officials and international students. Such interactions can build trust and understanding that facilitates threat assessments and an awareness of the campus security resources available to address specific security threats. The forum noted that a key barrier to developing effective crime prevention strategies is a lack of detailed, national data on the victimization of international students. Such data can expand awareness of the nature and prevalence of safety threats to international students. Other recommendations pertain to the pooling of resources for effective multilingual communications and the use of social media platforms popular with students to communicate safety tips and the availability of security resources. In addition, forum participants suggested increasing security surveys and education of students on reducing victimization risk.