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2019 Santa Monica College Crime & Safety Report

Is SMC safe? Below we'll take a look at crime statistics for the college campus and surrounding areas.

Our crime and safety report on SMC includes:

Understanding the Crime Stats for SMC

Crime & Safety Definitions

Our crime statistics come from the U.S. Department of Education's Campus Safety and Security data. The four types of crimes we will be analyzing are violence against women, arrests for major crimes, arrests for possession, and disciplinary actions.

Murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, and arson are the types of things included in the arrests for major crimes category. The violence against women grouping includes things such as domestic violence, date rape, and stalking. The arrests for possession classification deals with things such as weapons possession, alcohol violations, and drug violations. The disciplinary actions category involves possession of weapons, alcohol violations, and drug violations in the cases where no arrest occurred but some action was taken.

Number of Incidents

Many colleges and universities report zero incidents in some or all of these categories. In fact, 56% of the schools we cover reported no arrests for major crimes, 67% reported no violence against women, 70% reported no arrests for possession, and 68% reported no disciplinary actions.

While zero reported crimes may seem like a good sign, it does not necessarily indicate that the school has been safer. It may just be that the school doesn't have as strict reporting as others. Likewise, a high number of incidents may just mean that the school is stricter about law enforcement and reporting.

SMC Overall Crime Stats

41 Total Number of Incidents
1.49 Incidents per 1000 Students
In 2019, Santa Monica College reported 41 incidents related to crime and safety that involved students at or near campus or on other properties associated with the school. Based on a student body population of 27,497, that's 1.49 incidents per 1,000 students.

Below, you can see the number of incidents by category as well as the maximum number of incidents reported by any school for comparison's purposes.

CategoryNumber of IncidentsMax Number of Incidents (at any school)Number of Incidents per 1,000 studentsMax Number of Incidents per 1000 students (at any school)
Arrests for Major Crimes161,6700.584,000.00
Arrests for Possession158800.551,352.94
Violence Against Women83340.291,000.00
Disciplinary Actions22,6700.074,574.85

SMC Overall Crime by Category

The percentage breakdown of SMC crime and safety incidents by category is shown in the following chart.

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Disciplinary actions account for 4.9% of all crime and safety incidents at the school. Around 36.6% of the crime and safety-related incidents at Santa Monica College resulted in arrests for possession. About 39.0% of incidents were arrests for major crimes. Acts of violence against women accounted for 19.5% of incidents.

Comparison to Other Schools in the Nation

The charts below show how SMC compares to other colleges and universities in the nation when it comes to each category of crime and safety-related incidents. Note that this does not take school size into account so larger schools are likely to have more incidents.

Arrests for Possession  (Incidents)
fewer
more
Arrests for Major Crimes  (Incidents)
fewer
more
Violence Against Women  (Incidents)
fewer
more
Disciplinary Actions  (Incidents)
fewer
more

We can factor in the size of the school and look at the incidents per thousand students as well.

Arrests for Possession  (Incidents per 1000 Students)
fewer
more
Arrests for Major Crimes  (Incidents per 1000 Students)
fewer
more
Violence Against Women  (Incidents per 1000 Students)
fewer
more
Disciplinary Actions  (Incidents per 1000 Students)
fewer
more

SMC Overall Crime by Location

The percentage breakdown of SMC crime and safety incidents by location is shown in the following chart.

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SMC On-Campus Crime Stats

19 Total Number of Incidents
0.69 Incidents per 1000 Students
Santa Monica College reported 19 safety-related incidents involving students on campus in 2019. That works out to 0.69 incidents per 1,000 students, considering that the student body population is 27,497.

Below, you can see the number of incidents by category as well as the maximum number of incidents reported by any school for comparison's purposes.

CategoryNumber of IncidentsMax Number of Incidents (at any school)Number of Incidents per 1,000 studentsMax Number of Incidents per 1000 students (at any school)
Arrests for Major Crimes41,5850.154,000.00
Arrests for Possession68130.22888.89
Violence Against Women73310.251,000.00
Disciplinary Actions22,6450.074,544.91

SMC On-Campus Crime by Category

The chart below shows what percentage of SMC on-campus crime and safety incidents are in each category.

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22 Total Number of Incidents
0.80 Incidents per 1000 Students
Santa Monica College reported 22 safety-related incidents involving students on public property in the Santa Monica neighborhood around the campus in 2019. Based on a student body population of 27,497, that's 0.80 incidents per 1,000 students.

Below, you can see the number of incidents by category as well as the maximum number of incidents reported by any school for comparison's purposes.

CategoryNumber of IncidentsMax Number of Incidents (at any school)Number of Incidents per 1,000 studentsMax Number of Incidents per 1000 students (at any school)
Arrests for Major Crimes12670.44666.67
Arrests for Possession92450.331,294.12
Violence Against Women1240.04555.56
Disciplinary Actions01370.00137.93

The percentage breakdown of SMC student-related crime and safety incidents by category in the surrounding Santa Monica neighborhood is shown in the following chart.

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References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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