Code of Conduct

We welcome our site visitors to participate in a dialogue about crime prevention. From its inception, the National Crime Prevention Council (“NCPC”) has believed that citizen involvement is the key to preventing crime. To better foster citizen involvement, we strive to provide a safe and constructive environment for discourse on our website. Thus, by participating in any interactive component of this website (e.g., comments, guest blogs, photo submissions, content participation), you agree to and accept the following guidelines, terms, and policies.

We take responsibility for our own words and reserve the right to restrict comments on our site that do not conform to our standards. We are committed to the "Civility Enforced" standard: we strive to post high-quality, acceptable content, and we may delete unacceptable comments.

We define unacceptable content as anything, by direct submission or by linking, that

• Is being used to abuse, harass, stalk, or threaten others
• Is libelous or knowingly false
• Infringes upon any copyright, trademark, or trade secret of any third party. (If you quote or excerpt someone's content, it is your responsibility to provide proper attribution to the original author. For a clear definition of proper attribution and fair use, please see The Electronic Frontier Foundation's Legal Guide for Bloggers.)
• Violates an obligation of confidentiality
• Violates the privacy of others
• Is for commercial purposes

We define and determine what is "unacceptable content" on a case-by-case basis at our sole discretion, and our definitions are not limited to the above list.

You are solely responsible for the content you post on this site.

You are responsible for any and all content you provide to this website, and you agree to indemnify and hold harmless NCPC, its parent and affiliates, and their directors, officers, managers, employees, shareholders, agents, and licensors, from and against all damages, costs, losses, and expenses, including reasonable attorneys' fees, resulting from your providing said content to the website. We reserve the right to exclusively oversee and manage the defense of any claim for which we are entitled to indemnification. In such event, you agree to cooperate as is reasonably requested by NCPC.

You understand and accept that the National Crime Prevention Council is not responsible for content posted by third parties and does not endorse it.

Any content posted by a third party (directly or by linking) has not been vetted by the National Crime Prevention Council and thereby is not endorsed, recommended, or suggested. Rely on third-party content AT YOUR OWN RISK.

When we believe someone is unfairly attacking another, we will take considered action.

At our discretion, when someone who is publishing comments or site postings that are offensive, we may tell them so (privately, if possible) and ask them to publicly make amends, unless it is considered that doing so will only inflame or worsen the situation. If those published comments could be construed as a threat or of an illegal nature, and the perpetrator doesn't withdraw them and apologize, we will cooperate with local law enforcement regarding those comments and/or postings.

It is our goal to foster a civil online society where people feel free and protected as we feel in the real world by our neighbors. While the doctrine of “agree to disagree” applies, we must build a trust among each other.

We do not allow anonymous comments.

We require people who comment to supply a valid email address before they can post, though we allow people who comment to identify themselves with an alias, rather than their real name.

Submitting content does not guarantee publication.

We reserve the right to pre-moderate content at our discretion, meaning that we will accept submissions and then publish content only after the National Crime Prevention Council staff has reviewed the content to ensure that it meets these guidelines.

Content license

You hereby grant NCPC a worldwide royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual, and exclusive license, with the right to sub-license, to use, copy, modify, adapt, distribute, publish, translate, create derivative works from, perform, and display any content you provide to the website, in whole or in part, and to incorporate any or all of the content in other works, in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed. Any content you provide and used by NCPC is subject to indemnification by you as used by NCPC.

Notice and Enforcement

NCPC has sole discretion for determining whether a particular comment or other content is unacceptable and/or is to be removed. If you believe that any of the above guidelines, terms, or policies has been violated, or to request that NCPC review content posted on the website for any reason (including, for example, notice under 17 U.S.C. § 512 of alleged copyright infringement), please send an email to contentreview@ncpc.org. The provisioning of this Code of Conduct does not create any obligation by NCPC to take any action whatsoever, nor does this Code of Conduct create or give you any rights that you do not already have in the content you submit.