In 1990, Congress enacted the Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act of 1990 (Title II of Public Law 101-542) which amended the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA). This act required all post-secondary institutions participating in HEA’s Title IV student financial assistance programs to disclose campus crime statistics and security information. The act was amended in 1992, 1998, 2000 and 2008. The 1998 amendments renamed the law the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act. It is generally referred to as the Clery Act and is in section 485(f) of the HEA. On March 7, 2013 the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA) (Public Law 113-14) was signed into law and includes amendments to the Clery Act.

Statistics and information for the annual security report for South Plains College is collected, reported and disseminated by the Vice President for Student Affairs, with assistance from the Dean of Students and the Chief of the South Plains College Police Department, before October 1 of each year.