Where is the worst place to lock your bike at UTSG? Which of the residence halls has the most fire alarms? Which buildings have the most “suspicious odours?” Using more than 15,000 Campus Safety Activity Reports logged since 2019, The Varsity mapped when and where incidents were reported across campus.
This data is compiled from Campus Safety’s public Activity Reports Google Calendar. Activity Reports do not measure incidents, only Campus Safety’s reporting. Based on the description on the calendar event, The Varsity manually categorized and geocoded the entries. The location on the map is an approximation. The full dataset can be found online on The Varsity.
The hotspots
The most common location listed by far is the Campus Safety Office, which is often listed if there is no other location associated with the report. Beyond that, other hotspots include the Bahen Centre, Charles Street University Family Housing, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), 107 St George Street, and the Athletic Centre. Charles Street Housing, which accommodates around 2,000 adults and children across two high-rise residence buildings, is the largest U of T residence.
There have been 4,470 “suspicious person” reports across all years, with the highest concentrations at 71 Prince Arthur Avenue, Bahen Centre, and OISE. Between 2019 and 2025, Campus Safety’s Annual Reports with crime statistics include a total of 349 official “suspicious persons” listed, which is less than any of the single years’ worth in the Activity Reports.
At most locations, the most common category of report is “suspicious person.” Notable exceptions include the Athletic Centre, Robarts Library, and Gerstein Library, all of which use T-card scanners at their entrance; at these sites, theft is the most frequently reported category.
Overall, theft ranks as the second most common category with 1,606 reports, followed by person wellbeing check at 1,306, trespass at 714, and mischief at 635. In 2020 and 2021, graffiti also appeared among the top five categories, with a total of 500 reports — most frequently at OISE.
From 2020–2022, skateboarders were in the top five categories of reports. These reports remained consistent throughout the year, often increasing during the winter, peaking in January 2022 with 25 reports. While there were 144 such reports in 2021, the numbers dropped to just nine in 2025.
The Galbraith Building’s top report is skateboarders with 119 incidents. The surrounding area — featuring multiple low, flat stairs and “manual pads” — makes it ideal for skaters.
There are also unfounded reports in the data. One report from Burwash Hall on December 6, 2019, stated, “A person reported seeing handguns in a residence room. They were determined to be toy guns.”
Fire alarms — separate from actual fires — have been reported 29 times at Charles Street University Family Housing, 20 at Burwash Hall, eight at OISE, and six at Wetmore Hall and Graduate House.
Hate incidents are largely made up of “hate related” graffiti and posters, along with one instance of “hate related mail sent to Simcoe Hall” on May 24, 2024. Unsurprisingly, Simcoe Hall hosts the most protests. All reported protests have increased since 2024.
Most “suspicious odour” reports were resolved as “all in order.” Exceptions include a gas smell from an elevator at Graduate House, which required Toronto Fire, and when Campus Safety could not find the source of the odour in the Anthropology building on September 17, 2025.
Elevators have trapped people in the Louis B. Stewart Observatory, Charles Street University Family Housing, Bahen Centre, Woodsworth College Residence, Alumni House, Myhal Centre, CampusOne, Whitney Hall, and University College. The locking mechanism also trapped someone in the restroom at the C. David Naylor Building in June 2021.
A report category with only one incident is crowd control, which was at Chestnut Residence on June 17, 2019, which involved “individuals climbing to balcony areas to see the Raptors event.”
Where thefts happen
The Athletic Centre has the most thefts at 227 incidents — 27 of which involved lockers. That is more than double the amount of total thefts at the next highest locations: Charles Street University Family Housing with 109, Bahen Centre at 91, and Robarts Library at 87.
When a theft report included a description of the items stolen, the number one item was bikes, then money, laptops, bags, and phones, respectively.
Bike and scooter thefts are at their highest in late summer, and regularly peak in September before dropping in the winter. The Athletic Centre is the hotspot for bike thefts with 49 reports, followed by Charles Family Housing at 30, Bahen at 23, and Robarts at 13.
U of T libraries have signs at most study spaces urging students not to leave belongings unattended. Robarts Library has almost as many thefts as Robarts Commons, Gerstein, John M. Kelly Library, E.J. Pratt Library, and the Earth Sciences Library combined.
That said, the largest number of reports of laptops stolen was at Bahen with 20 reports, with Robarts closely following behind with 19. Sidney Smith Hall has 11, and Gerstein Library has nine.
18 packages were stolen from Charles Street University Family Housing, the most package thefts on campus, followed by Graduate House with 10.
There was a string of eight plaque thefts from October 23 to November 6, 2024. The pattern generally involved two thefts in a day, followed by a break, then another two. On the fifth stolen plaque report, Campus Safety emphasized, “ANOTHER PLAQUE WAS REPORTED STOLEN.” The incidents slowed to one theft on October 30, with the last reported theft on November 6. There have been no similar incidents since.
The descriptions for reports are often minimal, but for unique cases, Campus Safety will go into detail. On February 18, 2022, one car theft report read, “TORONTO POLICE SERVICE REQUESTED ASSISTANCE IN LOCATING A STOLEN MOTOR VEHICLE. MOTOR VEHICLE LOCATED AT OFF CAMPUS FRATERNITY HOUSE PARKING LOT.” The location listed was 152 St George Street, Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity’s house.
Some of the items included in the theft report description are particularly unique. There have been reports of stolen lab samples, a basketball, a kettle, a plastic coffee table, a baby stroller, a video game, two different school projects, and three different garbage bins.
When incidents happen
October consistently has the highest number of reports, while June has the fewest. Sunday is the least common day of the week for reports, with Saturday closely following — although noise complaints are most frequent on Saturday.
Fraud reports are most common in September, and often follow patterns. Taxi scammers appeared on campus between January 15–23, 2025, accounting for five of the eight reported incidents. Later in the year, four of nine projector scams took place between November 20–24, 2025.
Campus Safety’s busiest day was October 7, 2024, with a total of 32 reports. This coincided with the first day of the UofT Occupy for Palestine organized “Week of Rage.”
2024 saw a large increase in reports, which continued into 2025. In previous years, total Activity Reports were lower than Annual Reports, but followed a similar trend line. This may indicate that incidents themselves are not necessarily increasing, but that Campus Safety is logging more reports.
