Vehicle thefts rose by 13% at University Park Campus in 2024 compared to the previous year, despite campus access being restricted to those with ID, according to the Department of Public Safety’s 2025 Annual Security and Fire Safety Report released Thursday. 

The report is released annually in accordance with the Clery Act, a federal mandate that requires colleges and universities to release statistics of campus crime for the preceding three calendar years. The Clery Act requires the report to include the number of all reported offenses and if a crime is alleged.

Motor vehicle thefts rose in 2024

Motor vehicle thefts have been the highest reported crime at USC over the past three years, totaling 278 on campus in 2024, according to the report. The second most reported crime in 2024 was burglary at 19 reports on campus.

In a briefing with the Daily Trojan and Annenberg Media, DPS Assistant Chief David Carlisle said California law classifies electric scooters and electric bicycles as a motor vehicle, so very few motor vehicle thefts included in the report are of cars or trucks. 

To address this, Carlisle said DPS has organized a team of officers on bicycles whose purpose is to deter scooter and bicycle thieves. The team is typically composed of a sergeant in a dark blue uniform, along with around five to six officers who patrol UPC and USC Village.  

“If we find unlocked scooters that we see are vulnerable, we will lock them ourselves with our own lock, and then we leave a note for students to come to DPS, and we’ll go unlock it,” Carlisle said. “That’s how serious we are about trying to prevent these thefts.” 

Another program to address bicycle and scooter thefts is a free service to register a bicycle or scooter with DPS through its website. The program’s purpose is mainly to identify if a bicycle or scooter is stolen. 

“Several times we’ve stopped a person who we believe is stealing a bike or a scooter, but if we don’t know who it belongs to, and we can’t ask the victim, ‘Did you give this person permission to take your scooter or bike?’ We can’t make a case that it’s stolen,” he said. 

Carlisle wrote in a Feb. 10 statement to the Daily Trojan that DPS saw a 42% decrease in crimes reported on campus following increased security measures being put in place in August 2024. The statement read the campus saw 220 crimes during that period, compared to 380 crimes in the same period the year prior. 

However, the recently released report suggests the security checkpoints put in place in the second half of the year had little effect on the year’s total reported crimes. 

Between January and December 2024, the report states that there were 368 reported crimes on campus, a 6% increase from the previous year’s 343, including a 13% increase in reported motor vehicle thefts. Carlisle said he wanted to see further analysis on vehicle thefts before the campus perimeters were put up in August 2024, and after it was put in place.   

“I anticipated a reduction in scooter thefts and bike thefts,” Carlisle said when asked about the discrepancy. “I was somewhat surprised.”

Recent threats on campus cause concern

On Sept. 7, Leavey Library and Doheny Memorial Library both received bomb threats that were later determined to be a hoax by the Los Angeles Police Department and DPS. Four days later, the University was one of many nationwide that received violent threats targeting Black students, which USC and federal law enforcement deemed a hoax. 

When asked why DPS did not send a Trojan alert — USC’s emergency messaging system — regarding the threats toward Black students, Carlisle said it would be more appropriate to reach out directly to the targeted group. 

“There weren’t, as I recall, massive threats. There were some threats that we determined may or may not be legitimate,” Carlisle said. “We try and, in our best judgment, decide what’s the most effective means of protecting our students, getting information out where they can take appropriate action to protect themselves.” 

A student told the Daily Trojan on Sept. 11 that most Black students were not directly notified, leading them to take matters into their own hands by informing students through Black student organizations’ social media accounts.

USC has ‘some’ actively monitored security cameras off campus

Carlisle said that the University has over 4,000 surveillance cameras at USC-owned properties such as the North University Park and Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Carlisle also said that more than 150 of the University’s cameras on and off campus are monitored “24/7, tilt, pan, zoom.” 

“[Some of the 24/7 monitored cameras] are strategically placed throughout the community,” he said. “We have an agreement with the City of Los Angeles that allows DPS to put their surveillance cameras on their light poles.”

In an internal email obtained by the Daily Trojan in March, Dan Stimmler, vice president for auxiliary services, stated that an “enhanced security perimeter with additional hardware and camera coverage” was a Fall 2024 semester accomplishment. 

The University had not publicly mentioned additional camera coverage within the DPS zones or pedestrian checkpoints in the fall semester. Carlisle said during the briefing that the camera surveillance program has been expanding over the last 15 years. 

The University also has license plate recognition cameras that photograph and record every vehicle that passes them, Carlisle said. If a crime occurs and a vehicle is involved, Carlisle said the license plate identifier has the capabilities to track the car and identify the owner. 

For the 2026 report, Carlisle said the University will track hazing more closely after former President Joe Biden signed the Stop Campus Hazing Act in December 2024. According to the federal act, hazing is defined as an action that is required to join a student group that may cause bodily harm, is a sexual act, involves drugs or is a criminal activity.

A previous version of this article compared 2025 vehicle theft data to a Feb. 10 statement from the Department of Public Safety that stated crimes decreased by 42% percent following ID scanning being introduced to campus entrances in August. The article was updated 9/28 at 1:45 p.m. to reflect the change in total crime on campus, and that the 42% decrease happened after increased security measures were put in place in August. The Daily Trojan regrets these errors.