DPS continues to be an agent of discrimination


After five months of intermittent harassment, the USC fondler was finally stopped — for a few days, at least. Earlier this month, his bike-and-grab ended in a chase that reads more like a “Fast and Furious” fanfiction than a Department of Public Safety Crime Alert mass email. 

The offender was booked by the Los Angeles Police Department for seven similar cases of sexual battery related to USC, having been identified by victims of the string of earlier incidents on and near the University Park Campus. 

This was definitely a win for female butts all over. However, the absolutely ridiculous length of time it took for DPS to catch him — twice, since the issue was marked as resolved Oct. 11 with the initial detainment — doesn’t help the department’s already disputed reputation of inadequacy and downright misconduct. And to top it all off, an unconfirmed 14th case of sexual harassment was filed last week by DPS, matching the circumstances and description of the USC fondler.

Inadequate? Corrupt? To all the card-carrying members of the National Rifle Association, don’t bring out those AR-15s just yet. These are some big claims that are important to break down.

Feb. 11, 2019: A black man was stopped more than a mile north of campus by DPS officers for riding his bicycle without a light. They handcuffed him and asked about any outstanding warrants — completely unrelated to the supposed purpose of the traffic stop — and after relaying his history of a dismissed warrant, the officer said that another officer from the Southwest Division would have to come to confirm. 

Oct. 11, 2019: A woman walking home through the Row was tackled to the ground by DPS officers after she hugged a tree on a sorority’s lawn. Both her and her accompanying friend were arrested, and her bike seized and returned damaged.

Eight days later, during the homecoming tailgate, the Black and brown fraternities and sororities of Alpha Phi Alpha, Omega Phi Beta, Lambda Upsilon Lambda were fenced in and kept under heavy policing by both DPS and LAPD officers, with the occupancy capped at a number far below what was possible for so many organizations. 

During the Fall 2019 semester, a total of five hate crimes occurred on campus according to USC Annenberg Media, and DPS has so far only commented on two. One instance, on Oct. 18, consisted of a racial slur that was written on a whiteboard on a student’s door. The other incident, on Nov. 19, a “Keep America Great” sticker was found on the apartment door of four Muslim women living in the Nemirovsky and Bohnett Residential College.

The hypocrisy at work here is astounding.

DPS is the “Department of Public Safety” — yet it is unclear who the “public” is that these officers are protecting. Not students of color, who face discrimination from their own peers, administration and the officers themselves. Nor the large population of students whose innate privilege shields them from any consequences their actions may incur. And definitely not the residents of South L.A. who have the misfortune of living within the 2.5-mile patrol zone. 

Outside the campus bubble, people of color are shot down every day by trigger-happy police drunk on a cocktail of power, prejudice and fear. That’s not to say all police are monsters. This is not an N.W.A. song. However, for every honest, hardworking cop who has not shot an innocent civilian because of racial prejudice, there are more who have — or will. 

Like all universities, USC functions as a microcosm of the outside world; as such, it seems to have inherited all the same problems. In this exponentially smaller environment with centralized administration, such obvious discrimination should — in theory — be easier to correct. But this  is not the case. 

Ultimately, the actions of DPS rest solely at the feet of the University administration. President Carol Folt has failed to ameliorate the Department’s relationship with either the students of color or the local community. The situation may in fact be worse because the same acts of injustice are committed under the guise of this so-called “new” USC, which Folt claims to have birthed. 

It’s important to establish that this is not an argument for the dissolvement of DPS though there indeed is one. This is a call for reform — for increased awareness and some semblance of accountability. Perhaps a dab of humility — but that may be too much to ask.