The total number of reported criminal offenses in the University Park Campus area declined by about 9.6% in 2025 compared to 2024, according to the University’s Annual Security and Fire Safety Report.

The report, which was released on Sept. 24 and is published on the Department of Public Safety’s website, provides detailed crime and fire statistics from 2023 to 2025 in USC’s Clery-designated geographic area. It includes USC-owned property as well as designated adjacent property and city streets.

The report is published annually in compliance with the Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act, which aims to provide transparency around campus crime policies and statistics. The Clery Act requires universities that receive federal funding to release campus crime data for the preceding three calendar years to employees and students in a public annual security report.

For 2025, motor vehicle theft remained the dominant category of reported criminal offenses in the UPC reporting area. Although there is a 24.5% decrease from 314 cases in 2024, 237 cases were still reported in 2025. Last year, 199 of the cases reported involved theft of electric scooters, bikes, skateboards or golf carts.

The report also noted an increase in the number of aggravated assaults and robberies in the UPC reporting area from 2024 to 2025. The number of reported aggravated assaults rose from 25 to 47 cases in total, including an increase from 16 to 27 on campus and from eight to 16 on public property in the UPC reporting area. Reported robberies more than doubled in the UPC reporting area from 20 cases in 2024 to 44 in 2025, with robberies reported on public property increasing from four to 26.

At UPC, reported dating violence increased from 13 cases in 2024 to 27 in 2025. On-campus cases rose from 13 to 20, while residence-hall cases increased from 7 to 12. Referrals to disciplinary action by the University for drug-law violations decreased from 26 cases in 2024 to 16 in 2025, continuing a decline from 44 referrals in 2023.

UPC also witnessed an increase in reported hate crimes from 11 incidents in 2024 to 18 in 2025. The 2025 reports included five on-campus aggravated assaults motivated by national origin and two non-campus aggravated assaults motivated by race, none of which were present in the 2024 report. Only one aggravated-assault hate crime was listed in 2024, which was an on-campus incident motivated by sexual orientation.

Eight hazing offenses happened on campus in 2025 in the UPC reporting area, two of which were reported in residence halls. The Stop Campus Hazing Act, signed into law in December 2024, went into effect in 2025 and mandated the inclusion of hazing statistics in universities’ annual security reports.

The Health Sciences Campus reporting area had fewer reported criminal offenses than UPC. The combined total decreased from 41 cases in 2024 to 37 in 2025, with the biggest declines being in aggravated assaults and motor vehicle thefts. Meanwhile, reported fondling rose from nine cases in 2024 to 14 in 2025, while stalking rose from five to nine cases.

The University reported seven cases of residential fire in on-campus student housing facilities in 2025. None of these incidents caused any injury or death. While most of these incidents resulted in less than $10,000 in damage, a November 2025 grease fire case at University Gateway Apartments — during which a student attempted to extinguish the grease fire with water — caused an estimated $500,000 to $999,999 in damage.