Report to Police

How does it work?

You can report an incident of sexual or interpersonal misconduct to the LMU Department of Public Safety, or directly to the Los Angeles Police Department (or the applicable law enforcement agency). You can find more here.

If you report an incident of sexual or interpersonal misconduct to the Department of Public Safety, DPS will contact law enforcement (typically LAPD) to send an officer to campus to offer you the opportunity to file a criminal report, launching a formal criminal investigation. DPS and law enforcement officials will assist you in filing an official report, collecting evidence and statements for a criminal case.

You have the right to decline reporting to law enforcement; however, you may choose to file at a later time. You may choose to pursue a complaint through the University judicial process even if you decline to file a report with law enforcement.

What can I report to police?

If you are in immediate danger, or have just experienced a sexual assault, call 911.

Unwanted sexual contact is never okay, and certain types of contact are criminal offenses including sexual battery and rape.

California legal definitions:

Rape: Non-consensual sexual intercourse that involves the use of threat of force, violence, or immediate and unlawful bodily injury or threats of future retaliation and duress
- Non-consensual: when a person is incapable of giving consent because they are incapacitated by alcohol and/or drugs, or if they have a mental, developmental, or physical disability that renders them incapable of giving consent.
- Whether the accused is a stranger, acquaintance, spouse, or friend is irrelevant to the legal definition of rape.
- Sexual battery: Touching an intimate part of a victim or forcing a victim to touch an intimate part of another person against the victim’s will, for the purpose of sexual arousal, sexual gratification or sexual abuse, while unlawfully restraining them, through deception, when the person is unconscious, or while the person is mentally or medically incapacitated.

Read more legal definitions at Laws in California and Laws Outside California.

What happens after I report?

After you make an initial report, a designated Investigator/Detective may be assigned to your case and will follow up with you to determine next steps. Potential next steps may include:

visiting the scene of the crime
interviewing witnesses, and/or
interviewing you to gather more information

At that point, they might decide not to move forward with a criminal investigation. If they do move forward, the investigator will present the evidence and details of the case to a District Attorney, who will determine whether there is enough evidence to move forward with a criminal prosecution. The prosecutor may decide to pursue a criminal case even if you do not want to, however, you cannot be forced to participate in any investigation or prosecution if you do not wish.