Pelfrey then conducted the mixed method research project, which combined a review of crime alerts issued during a four-year period. He also compiled detailed feedback from focus groups.
Focus group participants at VCU included students in VCU’s Black Graduate Student Association, the VCU NAACP student chapter, VCU student Criminal Justice Association, criminal justice graduate students, faculty and staff members, and subject matter experts who study the intersection of race and criminal justice.
Pelfrey found email timely warnings (crime alerts) were issued for violent crimes such as robbery, armed robbery, and aggravated assault. “Perpetrators are overwhelmingly male and largely black,” Pelfrey’s research found. “It is reasonable to question whether repeated descriptions of crime acts committed by black males could raise, foster or enhance a negative stereotype.”
For years, VCU Police had already started relying on detailed clothing descriptions and getaway vehicle descriptions (if applicable), but Venuti wanted to determine if police were perpetuating negative stereotypes.
While focus groups understood the need for crime alerts, most participants felt that including race could perpetuate a negative perception of minorities, specifically black males. They advised that race be excluded in cases which are several hours old and no longer present a pressing public safety concern. While this issue was a concern for most groups, all of the groups concluded that safety was predominantly the most important concern.
Once Venuti received the final research results, he consulted with VCU’s public affairs office, VCU’s Black Education Association, police leadership, and university leadership. Since police and public affairs staff already use pre-written templates for email alerts, inserting a hyperlink to alert.vcu.edu was a simple update to include in the message.
Venuti believes this revised approach will fulfill dual goals of informing the community on public safety issues and reducing negative stereotypes that influence students, faculty and staff.
“The Department of Education provides very little guidance to intuitions regarding timely warning notifications,” Venuti says. “Balancing the needs of the entire community while doing what is in the best interest of safety is always a difficult task. I think this adjustment in emails will move VCU forward in its own discussions of diversity and inclusion, while still keeping timely warning details available to the public.”
Corey Byers is a public information officer with the Virginia Commonwealth University Police Department.
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