Emergency Response Procedures

Harassing and Threatening Phone Calls

All calls threatening personal safety should be reported immediately to Wittenberg Police and Security. It is a criminal offense to make harassing or obscene phone calls

Advice on how to respond to a harassing or threatening phone call:

1. Hang up as soon as you realize the call is harassing. As soon as you hear an obscenity, improper question or no response to your "hello," hang up.

2. Do not ask the caller any questions to try and determine who the caller is. This is what the caller wants you to do.

3. Do not respond with "smart" or witty answers, this will only encourage the caller.

4. Do not give out information to strangers. Be careful when talking to people taking surveys. If they are asking personal questions or for information you do not want released, do not answer the questions and end the phone call. Remember: you do not need to answer their questions.

5. Never give out your name or address to an unidentified caller.

Making A report

Make note of the following kind of information so that you can include it in your report to Wittenberg Police, try to know the following:

Did the call come from on campus or off? (One or two rings.)
What was the time and date?
Was the caller male or female?
Could you tell the age of the caller by their voice?
What background noise was there?
Who else was in your room at the time of the call? (Could the call possibly be aimed at or committed by a roommate or family member?)
What was said?