Here’s how much crime was reported on campus in 2024
A VCU Police car parked outside James Branch Cabell Library. Photo by Andrew Kerley.
Molly Manning, News Editor
Heciel Nieves Bonilla, Assistant News Editor
VCU recently released its 2025 Annual Security and Fire Safety Report, which measures reported allegations of crimes from 2022 to 2024 on both the Monroe Park and MCV campuses, as well as VCU’s smaller centers across Virginia.
The statistics come from reports by VCU Police, Residential Life & Housing, various university offices and local law enforcement agencies. VCU is required by the Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act to make the report every fall.
VCU Police chief Clarence T. Hunter Jr. stated 94% of the VCU community felt “safe” or “very safe” on campus, an increase of 2% since last year.
Yearly totals for fondling on campus dropped between 2022 and 2024 — eight instances were reported on Monroe Park Campus in 2024, as opposed to 44 in 2022. At MCV, only three instances were reported in 2024, five less than in 2022.
People reported 16 instances of rape on MPC in 2022, which is four more than 2023, but lower than the 37 in 2022.
Reports of aggravated assault decreased significantly across both campuses. Five were reported on MPC in 2024, fifteen less than in 2022. The same goes for MCV — three in 2024 as opposed to 12 in 2022.
Burglary and motor vehicle theft on MPC increased between 2023 and 2024 — but decreased overall from 2022. 13 instances of burglary were reported in 2024, as six instances of motor vehicle theft.
Only two instances of robbery were reported across both campuses in 2024.
People reported 11 instances of domestic violence across both campuses in 2024, which is lower than the nineteen reported in 2023, but higher than the eight in 2022.
The report defines domestic violence as “violent crime committed by either a former spouse or intimate partner, or someone who the victim shares a child with, is cohabitating as a spouse or partner, is similarly situated as a spouse, or anyone who is protected from that person’s acts under the domestic or family violence laws.”
People reported 26 instances of dating violence across both campuses in 2024, far lower than the 289 instances reported in 2022.
Dating violence is defined as “violence committed by a person who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim.”
Instances of stalking decreased across both campuses — 86 reports were made across both campuses.
Arrests and disciplinary referrals for violating drug and alcohol laws decreased on MPC between 2023 and 2024 — but increased overall since 2022. Violations increased at MCV.
VCU revised its alcohol policy in October 2024 to remove the ability of student groups to obtain an ABC license for their events.”
Arrests for violating weapon laws stand at 26 across both campuses in 2024 — an increase from 2022. No disciplinary referrals were made in 2024.
VCU’s numbers come in the context of a broader decrease in total crime in the city of Richmond, according to the Richmond Police Department’s annual report in January.
Total crime was down 3% from 2023, with particularly high decreases of 18%, 19% and 20% in homicide, rape and commercial robbery respectively. The city also saw a substantial 26% increase in burglaries, and a much smaller 1% increase in shoplifting.
