University of California Office of the President

The University of California makes every effort to provide safe campus environments for its students. Every UC campus has a police department staffed by sworn peace officers with full law enforcement authority as well as an array of counseling, education, and safety programs. Campus judicial officers use both discipline and counseling to stop abusive behavior and solve problems.

UC campuses conduct safety training as part of new student orientation and offer similar sessions for continuing students. They maintain professionally staffed health and counseling centers that help students be proactive to protect themselves as well as dealing with emergencies. Campus residence hall staff are trained to assist students in dispute resolution, safe practices, and crisis management. Residence halls are protected by automated lock and entrance control technologies.

Lighting, maintenance, and escort services are designed to prevent crimes from happening, but campus grounds are equipped with emergency alarm systems for summoning rapid help if needed.

This combination of staffing and organizational and physical infrastructure is designed to help young adults learn to take responsibility for their own safety in a context of accurate knowledge of risks and resources.

Each UC campus police department has responsibility for gathering statistics, identifying reportable crimes and reporting/publishing statistics to Department of Education, the FBI and the public. Statistics are reported in different formats and categories depending upon legal requirements: FBI reports include different crimes from the Clery Act, while the Clery Act requires statistics be reported from a wider geographic area than the FBI (e.g., adjacent public property and student organization properties), and also requires reports of student disciplinary referrals in addition to arrests for drug, alcohol, and weapons offenses. Further, the Clery Act mandates the collection of information regarding incidents from non-law enforcement "campus security authorities" having "significant responsibility for students or campus activities," while FBI statistics include only crimes reported to the police.

U.S. Department of Education Handbook for Campus Safety and Security Reporting (pdf) (February 2011)