<p>Now i'm not going to be going out of the campus late at night in dark alleys, but what do you think of the overall safety of the area? What is the crime rate like in the area? Is it safe to bring a nice car?</p>
<p>Here are some links to some threads about safety-</p>
<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=299575&highlight=safe%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=299575&highlight=safe</a>
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=297406&highlight=safe%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=297406&highlight=safe</a>
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=265916&highlight=safe%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=265916&highlight=safe</a></p>
<p>as far as cars go, just my floormates alone have brought their Audis, BMWs, and a tricked out Tahoe. i know of other people who have brought convertibles, etc.</p>
<p>I have driven with my mom around midnight around the USC area. I use to pass by the school around 2 am. I didnt see any crime or anything lol. I even stopped by the gas station. I was a little scared though, but its not a big deal. Just be street smart and its ok :)</p>
<p>There's a robbery going on every other night. Trust me!</p>
<p>there are robberies on EVERY college campus. UCLA, esp has been in the news for this lately. anyway, there will be laptop and bike theft at 99% of colleges, promise.</p>
<p>your car should be safe if you park it in one of the school parking lots. Good parking lot security... everyone of them have like gates or attendents in front of it.</p>
<p>maybe, but a robbery with a gun in your face doesn't happen at UCLA.</p>
<p>i don't think it is safe. there are so many homeless around campus asking students for money day and night. and crime alerts from department of public safety is frequent. they are more busy impounding students' bikes than protecting students. Lastly, there are just not enough campus cruisers.</p>
<p>Yikes, guys. It really isn't that bad, as long as you are safe. Wandering into the back streets of the area at two am, talking loudly on your expensive new cell phone would probably be a bad idea. As long as you are smart about what you do, you are going to be fine. Homeless people do not mean that the campus is unsafe, by the way. Several of them would much sooner defend a USC student rather than steal from them. DPS has a few issues in the bike department, certainly, but they also do an excellent job as a campus police force. They have a very strong presence on campus and in the community. I'm not going to get into a comparative arguement about security at UCLA.</p>
<p>Wow, it is the first time I hear that homeless ppl would defend USC students. They just creep me out.
According to Spring 2007 USC Report Card by Daily Trojan, the part on Crime and Safety is given the grade of C+. Here is the exact quoting from the report:
" Although students say they generally feel safe on campus, they are more apprehensive outside university borders. Drpartment of Public Safety Chief Carey Drayton advocates hitching a ride with Campus Cruiser late at night, but students complain that waiting times upwards of 45 minutes on busy nights force them to walk home in the wee hours of the morning. Elsewhere, students applaud DPS for responding within seconds when crime strikes, and USC appears to have comparable crime rates to urban universities such as Yale, Chicago, UPenn and Columbia. Still, more students say DPS' focus is misguides and that officers, who have gained notoriety for impounding bikes not secured to the overcrowded and inconveniently placed racks, are the real bike thieves on campus" GRADE: C+</p>
<p>I don't need to say more.</p>
<p>I totally agree on the bike thief thing. It really annoys me, as I've literally watched them stick a bunch of bikes into a truck. I'll admit that the homeless thing is something I've heard more than seen, but I'm pretty sure I read a DT article about it. And I've certainly never been harrassed by a homeless person. I think campus cruiser could use some help, but I still feel that usc is safe.</p>
<p>Yes, in the campus it is very safe. Well, if anyone drive by the parking center, there are homeless. There are homeless asking students for money in university village. There are homeless on the sides of freeway entrance. And there are many times I have bugged by homeless outside of fast food restaurant near campus. It is a frequent sight.</p>
<p>To quote myself:</p>
<p>
[quote]
I am the father of a second semester senior at USC [now graduated]. I have been on this board since he was in high school. I work at one of the largest, and best, state universities in the country located in the "safe" Midwest in a great college town.</p>
<p>This question about safety at USC is raised all the time, every year, seemingly every month. College students universally, everywhere, are at risk. They have things bad people want, they are open and friendly, and they are generally oblivious to their surroundings guided by their belief in the invulnerability of the young. I have seen it here in Madison and at USC where young women who have had too much to drink insist on crossing a major street (by the 29) without going to the corner to cross or seeking out a traffic light. That's unsafe.</p>
<p>The area around USC is made up of students and working class Hispanics. The neighborhoods are clean and ripe for gentrification since they have an amazing late 19th, early 20th century housing stock.</p>
<p>College students are their own worst enemies when it comes to crime. PAY ATTENTION, secure your valuables, and watch out for alcohol, which is the worst enemy of college students, and you will be fine.</p>
<p>Lecture over.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yes, yes, the area around USC is safe. It's at least as safe as the national average, if not safer.</p>
<p>to poster # 14,
Your so call "lecture of students should look for themselves and blame themselves" is pointless. Of cource, I totally agree that students should pay attention. But USC cound have done better. Your son is the one who is USC students not you, and beening on this board since you son have been to high school has nothing to do with your argument. I have lived near campus for 1 year and I know how unsafe it is to walk outside after 8 pm, without alcohol. If anyone is interested, I am willing to post all the crime alerts for DPS from last semester. And you can see how frequent crime occurs near USC.</p>
<p>i think this question's been answered more than thoroughly enough in other threads, but i'll throw in my (full) opinion...</p>
<p>i don't think the crime reports are a great gauge of crime being "high" or "low." if my hometown police department (theoretically) sent us emails every time a crime occurred within a 2 mile radius, my inbox would be flooded with crime alerts...almost assuredly more than the crime alerts i get from USC. it really does take awareness...it's ok to be worried, but you should be worried regardless of where you are.</p>
<p>in the year that i've been at USC, i've been out far later than 8PM, sometimes up to 3AM or 4AM, and with people who are drunk--on Menlo, Ellendale, Adams, west of Vermont (which is notorious for being shady), 23rd street (the very edge of Campus Cruiser and even DPS), and beyond 23rd to Venice (at 2AM)...but the thing is, i don't go out alone, and i don't assume nothing will happen. just being in a small group and having an awareness can keep you from being victimized. USC and DPS can definitely do better, no doubt...but they're not doing bad at the same time. i feel quite safe around campus, enough to feel comfortable with going out as much as i do, and at the times that i do.</p>
<p>yeah, occasionally there're homeless people around (where aren't there in LA :rolleyes: ), but that doesn't mean they're dangerous...to think so is terribly ignorant. that's not to say they can't be, but it's hardly the case. i could only see a problem with them if you're (irrationally) uncomfortable around them.</p>
<p>more or less...i won't go as far as to say that you will absolutely be safe (really, few places can say that in the first place, and those places won't be the ones around any universities). but it's more than safe enough that it shouldn't factor into your decision whether or not to attend USC, or even whether or not you should bring your car.</p>
<p>
[quote]
it really does take awareness...it's ok to be worried, but you should be worried regardless of where you are.
[/quote]
that came out sorta wrong haha. i meant: it's ok to be worried, but not so much that it'll keep you from doing things you want to do, because essentially the area around USC isn't much worse than other urban-residential areas...in fact, it's probably safer.</p>
<p>For those who have been affected by crime near USC, of course this is a personal question, and we don't want to downplay the horrible feeling of being victimized and taken advantage of around campus. It would be easy for someone in this situation to say that the area around USC isn't safe. But the reality is, the crime rate per capita is normal for an urban neighborhood such as that in which USC is located (observationally, many would even say less than normal). </p>
<p>The majority of USC student posters in this forum have all said the same thing, that it's not as bad as rumor would have it. All of us would rather have no crime than a little crime that "keeps us on our toes" and forces us to keep aware of our surroundings. We'd rather not have to post in this thread trying to allay fears and justify our opinions. But the posts are directed to overturn the unfounded (but of course understandable) fears in the original posters' inquiries.</p>
<p>It may take a while before someone who is not used to an urban environment to feel safe around USC after hours. Maybe more than a year.</p>
<p>in every one of these threads, i’ve noticed that people who dont go to USC say it is very unsafe
and those that do say its fine</p>
<p>with that being said ive been fine everywhere and at all hours. just dont wander too far like outside of cruiser’s range (and there’s no reason to anyways)</p>