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USC Advisory Board Finds Campus Police Disproportionately Stop Black People
An advisory board formed last school year found that campus police disproportionately stop Black people on campus.
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Michael Locke
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LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr
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The advisory board that's been reevaluating the USC campus police department for the past year has come up with a report. Among its findings: campus police officers stopped Black people during 2019 and 2020 at higher numbers than any other racial group.
USC professor Ange-Marie Hancock Alfaro co-chairs the advisory board.
"Especially around the Health Sciences Campus on the east side of Los Angeles, there are not enough Black people for it to be a Black person getting stopped once. So there's a high chance that people are getting stopped multiple times during their time either working or studying at USC," said Hancock Alfaro.
Advisory board co-chair Errol Southers says another concern is that because campus police are the only 24/7 agency on campus, they often get calls that don't require an armed response.
"Seventy percent of the radio calls that go to the officers at DPS are for an open or closed door or gate. So does that really require a public safety officer to respond?" Southers said.
The report recommends a new vision for public safety at USC, and it also says calls about mental health or homelessness should go to another USC campus office.
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