Audit shows UC Santa Cruz not reporting crime data accurately via the Clery Act

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KION-TV) -- A California state audit released on Tuesday said that UC Santa Cruz failed to accurately report crime data.

The audit, performed by California State Auditor Grant Parks' office, reviewed six institutions--CSU Chico, Imperial Valley College, Mount Saint Mary's University, Orange Coast College and UC Santa Cruz.

"Santa Cruz did not include in its 2022 Clery statistics seven of 60 crimes we reviewed," listed the audit as an example of UC Santa Cruz's inaccurate reporting. "To help inform students, employees, applicants, and their parents about campus safety, the federal Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act) requires all eligible institutions of higher education (institutions) to prepare, publish, and distribute annual security reports disclosing specified campus crime statistics and campus security policies."

The report discovered that UC Santa Cruz was in violation of the Clery Act through underreporting crimes, containing incomplete crime logs and not disclosing campus safety procedures. The report stated that UC Santa Cruz "did not track their Clery‑reportable incidents in a central location, which has led to Santa Cruz underreporting 33 crimes," as well as "underreport[ing] seven of 60 crimes we reviewed in its Clery statistics, with an overall error rate of 15 percent." Finally, the report said that UC Santa Cruz "had incomplete daily crime logs" from between 17 and 25 crimes of the 60 crimes that the auditors reviewed.

The table below shows how UC Santa Cruz measured up in comparison with the five other institutions audited:

This table illustrates the types of crimes that were not reported by UC Santa Cruz and three other institutions:

A breakdown of all UC Santa Cruz's crime statistics reported under the Clery Act from 2020 to 2022, is listed below:

The audit concluded with three robust recommendations for all six of the institutions, UC Santa Cruz being included in all of them.

UC Santa Cruz agreed to comply with all recommendations by January 2025, one of which they agreed to by the October 2024 deadline (updating campus policies, procedures and programs identified as insufficient by the auditor).

"We appreciate the thoughtful and constructive recommendations from the audit team and the California State Auditor," UC Santa Cruz's Assistant Vice Chancellor Scott Hernandez-Jason said in a statement Friday. "We are always working to promote a safe environment for everyone in our campus community [and] are eager to implement these recommendations and staff members are already working to improve the transparency of our public safety information and compliance with the Clery Act. We are committed to continuous improvement and creating a campus environment that promotes safety for all."