A Conversation with Chief Tedjeske – The Villanova

Villanova's Department of Public Safety recently released the 2024 Annual Safety and Fire Safety Report for all students.

Content Warning: Mentions of domestic violence and rape.

On Tuesday, September 30, at 2 p.m., the University's Department of Public Safety released the 2024 Annual Security and Fire Safety Report (ASR) for all students. This report is distributed each year and is required by federal law to be made available to all students and employees.

The report includes the University's crime statistics presented in two corresponding charts in accordance with federal and Pennsylvania state law. The definitions of crime differ between the two charts and therefore the distribution is statistically different between the two. The crimes listed in these charts are recorded in the year the incident was reported, not necessarily the year the incident occurred.

The report provides statistics on various crimes on campus, broken down by different crime categories. Within the statistics themselves, the numbers appear to be extreme in some categories, but are actually influenced by an ongoing incident that occurred over several years. Otherwise, the numbers are fairly normal compared to previous reports.

When referencing the breakdown of this year's statistics, Villanova Public Safety Director and Police Chief David Tedjeske explained the variation in numbers from previous years. The Villanova spoke with Tedjeske as well as Title IX Coordinator Ryan Rost to provide context for the unusually high number of incidents.

The reports for the categories “rape” and “domestic violence” are significantly higher than in previous years: the number of rapes increased sixfold, and the number of domestic violence increased by a further 400 cases. HoweverHowever, this increase is not due to an overall increase in crime on campus. Instead, Tedjeske explained that these unusually high numbers were due to a single report of a two-year abusive dating relationship that occurred between 2018 and 2020.

This incident was reported to the Ministry of Public Security in December 2023. The report came from a faculty member who initially learned from a student that she had been in a relationship for two years characterized by physical abuse and sexual violence. The abusive relationship occurred three years prior to the reporting date and the alleged attacker was no longer attending Villanova at the time of the report to the university. The faculty member notified the Title IX Office, which led to a meeting between the complainant and Tedjeske.

At that meeting, the university's public safety department worked with the complainant to estimate the number of rapes and domestic violence that had occurred during the two years of their relationship. These counts only include incidents that occurred on campus. Both students lived on Villanova's campus most of the time, although the report may ignore some of the violence that occurred at the alleged attacker's home for a time off campus. After the meeting between Tedjeske and the student, she declined to participate in a criminal investigation or prosecution. Both the complainant and the alleged attacker have now completed their studies at the university and are no longer on campus.

Tedjeske said the number of reported rapes per year is typically around 10. In the federal crime statistics, the numbers in the “rape” category are significantly above normal. 56 of the 66 reported rapes stem from this single report. Additionally, 415 of the 418 incidents in the “Domestic Violence” category were reported in this one case. The unique incident of aggravated assault in this report was also a result of this relationship. According to Tedjeske, the aggravated assault was similar in nature to the other assaults and no weapons were involved. The grievous bodily harm resulted in serious injuries to the complainant.

In comparison, there is no designated category for domestic or dating violence in the mandatory crime report for the state of Pennsylvania. The domestic violence cases from the federal table are shown in this table as “Other Assault.” All but 10 of the 425 reports of “other assault” are attributed to the single report from this two-year relationship.

In response to this assault report, as well as the other incidents of sexual and domestic violence on campus, both Tedjeske and Rost emphasized the importance of bystander intervention regarding relationship violence.

“Sometimes people are hesitant to commit when they see signs of an unhealthy relationship,” Rost said. “It's hard to help a friend in an unhealthy relationship, and people may think it's none of their business. It's important to support friends and come from a place of care and concern. Villanova offers a variety of programs and campaigns to promote a healthy campus culture and strategies to identify and prevent relationship and sexual violence.”

This domestic and sexual violence report follows a spate of sexual assault reports published in September. The message from one Uber driver rapes House of Commons residentas well as the A civil lawsuit was recently filed against the university in a federal sexual assault case has sparked notable discussion within the Villanova community about campus safety concerns.

Given these events Tedjeske and the Department of Public Safety are actively working to improve physical security on campus. Tedjeske shared that some future changes include an initiative to replace all blue light systems across campus in the next few years. This includes a new project to add nine new blue light phones on South Campus, including two new ones on Wildcat Path. According to Tedjeske The new phones have built-in video cameras and speakers that announce Nova alerts. Other security initiatives include installing metal detectors at all major events and testing the functionality of doors on campus. As part of this project, the Ministry of Public Safety is working to replace the exterior doors at St. Mary's Hall with new ones. Additionally, students are encouraged to report broken doors or other safety concerns to Principal Tedjeske at [email protected].

“We are continually working to improve safety,” Tedjeske said. “Whether it is physical security such as cameras, wild card and license plate readers, or through the deployment of our staff, targeted patrols in specific areas, or through policy changes… We also identify areas where we believe additional physical security is needed.” Location. ”

For more information about this year's safety report, please visit: