If you believe someone is in physical danger, consult with a volunteer or someone on th leadership team for the appropriate crisis number, non-emergency number, or police number.
If you believe someone has violated the Code of Conduct, we encourage you to report it. If you are unsure whether the incident is a violation, or whether the space where it happened is covered by this Code of Conduct, we encourage you to still report it. We are fine with receiving reports where we decide to take no action; they help create a safer space.
During an event you can make a report directly to the organizers either verbally (if in person), through the online collaboration tool being used for the event, or email. See Code of Conduct for email of the organizers.
In case of a conflict of interest, you can contact just one of the organizers.
Report Data
If you make a report via email, please include:
- Your contact info (so we can get in touch with you if we need to follow up)
- Date and time of the incident
- Location of incident
- Whether the incident is ongoing
- Description of the incident
- Identifying information of the reported person: name, physical appearance, height, clothing, voice accent
- Additional circumstances surrounding the incident
- Other people involved in or witnesses to the incident and their contact information or description
Confidentiality
All reports will be kept confidential. When we discuss incidents with people who are reported, we will anonymize details as much as we can to protect reporter privacy.
However, some incidents happen in one-on-one interactions, and even if the details are anonymized, the reported person may be able to guess who made the report. If you have concerns about retaliation or your personal safety, please note those in your report. We still encourage you to report, so that we can support you while keeping our attendees safe. In some cases, we can compile several anonymized reports into a pattern of behavior, and take action on that pattern.
In some cases we may determine that a public statement will need to be made. If that’s the case, the identities of all victims and reporters will remain confidential unless those individuals instruct us otherwise.
Report Handling Procedure
When you make a report to an incident responder, they will gather information about the incident according to the Staff Procedure For Incident Response.
If the incident is ongoing and needs to be immediately addressed, any one of the incident responders may take appropriate action to ensure the safety of everyone involved.
If the incident is less urgent, the incident responders will meet within 24 hours to determine an appropriate response. Examples of possible incident responses are outlined in the Staff Procedure For Incident Response.
Following Up With Reporters
Within one week of an incident report, the incident responders will follow up with the person who made the report and provided their contact information. The follow up may include:
- An acknowledgment that the responders discussed the situation
- Whether or not the report was determined to be a violation of the Code of Conduct
- What actions (if any) were taken to correcting the reporter behavior
In some cases, the responders may need to ask additional questions about the incident in order to identify the reported person.
Conflicts of Interest
If an incident responder has a conflict of interest for a report, they will recuse themselves from the discussion and handling of the incident. The incident documentation will not be available to them, and they will excuse themselves from any conversations involving handling the incident.