The Department of Public Safety has lost some administrative staff, vacant positions for both armed and unarmed officers as well as security ambassadors due to University budget cuts, Chief of Public Safety Lauretta Hill said in a student media briefing Monday. 

“Our level of service has not changed, and so we’re still delivering the same level of service,” Hill said. “Now what you will see is our ambassadors, we have reduced some of those numbers, but what we’ve done is added redundancy and put cameras in places to make sure that we’re still covering certain areas.”

When asked about the recent DPS phone line outages at the Health and Sciences campus and the fire alarm communication issues at both University Park Campus and HSC, David Carlisle, assistant chief of DPS, said that a phone line was cut in a utility vault off campus which cut USC buildings communication systems to the alarm monitoring center at DPS.

The briefing also addressed the effects of campus gate checkpoints, protocol for ICE on campus, student protests, the recent bomb threats at Leavey and Doheny libraries, as well as measures for DPS to remain engaged with the community. 

Effect of campus gate checkpoints unclear

When asked about the effects of eliminating ID scanning at campus entrances during public hours in August, Hill said that she did not have data yet. But, Hill said that ambassadors remain at the gates to ensure visibility. 

“We have so many people that work within DPS that grew right up in this neighborhood, and they talk about their experiences: how they used to come on the campus, and used to walk around the campus,” Hill said. “We still want to have that. But at the same time, we’re making sure that we’re still providing [a safe] environment.”

Hill said the security checkpoints with ID scanning likely deterred some people from committing crimes. 

“For some people that are going to commit crime, some things are not a deterrent,” Hill said. “For a lot of people, when they saw the scan in there, it acted as a deterrent. Will the numbers show it? They may show in some areas; in some areas, they may not show.”

A DPS report that included crime statistics released in September showed that campus saw a 6% increase in total reported crime on campus from 2023 to 2024. The checkpoints were put in place beginning in May 2024.

At no time’ will DPS stop ICE from official business, Hill says  

In the event that United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement comes on campus, Hill said DPS would comply with the Office of the General Counsel’s directions and follow the law.

“We try to have this conversation with [ICE], but at no time would we be seen as we are stopping a law enforcement agency from doing their official business,” Hill said. “We would not be putting ourselves in a position, or putting USC in a position, where we are saying ‘We’re stopping you from coming to campus,’ but that’s any law enforcement agency.”

The general counsel’s guidance for dealing with government agents is to initially ask for a warrant and their governmental credentials, explain that all warrants must first be reviewed by the OGC, refer the individual to the office, and not block or interfere with the agent should they refuse to cooperate, according to the OGC website. 

DPS addresses protocols surrounding protests

When asked about decisions to close campus gates for some protesters in Fall 2024, Hill said that senior administration at USC make those decisions while DPS brings them safety intelligence. She also said issues with allowing past protests to come on campus come from students failing to follow student handbook rules such as obtaining permits for the protests. 

Interim President Beong-Soo Kim told the Daily Trojan in August that the revised campus entrance protocol would include temporarily reintroducing ID scanning, gate closures or other tighter security measures if the University deems it necessary.

“We want to provide a space for people to exercise their freedom of speech, and if that could be facilitated while other things are going on, then you know that decision will be made whether we [scan or not scan at the gates],” Hill said. 

Hill said that cameras are running at all times and that student protester information can be obtained in the event that a protester commits a crime or violates University policy. The University maintains more than 4,000 cameras in and around campus, according to David Carlisle, assistant chief of DPS.

“We want to make sure that there is no external influence putting our students in a situation that may impact their ability to be able to be Trojan alums,” Hill said.