The University’s Department of Public Safety is slowly transitioning to become an official police force on the campus. This new title brings new responsibilities, such as training in weapon use and how to respond to different types of scenarios.
To the University population, this is a new idea — one that hasn’t been seen in Oregon public universities because of legislation that barred a police force on campus. For campuses outside of Oregon, a campus police force equipped with firearms is nothing new.
Of the 12 schools in the Pac-12 conference, 10 universities have sworn police officers serving its campus. The two that do not are Oregon State University and the University of Oregon.
Nancy Greenstein, the director of police community services at UCLA, said the police department on UCLA’s campus has been around longer than she can remember. Greenstein said that its presence is possibly more important now than ever. @@http://www.securityoncampus.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2047:jeanne-clery-campus-safety-award-recipient-for-2009&catid=55:jeanneclerycampussafetyaward@@
“In today’s age, with campus shooters and such, having police officers who are trained and can respond to any emergency is great because they can deal with active shooters and be the first on the scene,” Greenstein said. “We would be there faster than a neighboring agency. We’re always here.”
Greenstein also said that because they have a population of a medium-sized town going through campus every day, an independent police force is a necessity in order to make sure that the Los Angeles Police Department is not spread too thin.
Washington State University in Pullman, Wash., takes a similar approach. Because the town is smaller, the campus police department works strictly on campus and Pullman Police Department works on the areas surrounding campus. Sergeant Monte Griffin of the WSUPD said that his office works side-by-side with the Pullman Police Department.
“A big thing that we do is alleviate the stress for Pullman’s police department,” Griffin said. “We have a really good relationship and notify each other when something is going on to make sure that we can properly address it. It really helps to take care of issues quickly and effectively.”
Oregon State University, although still without a campus police department, doesn’t want to acquire one. Oregon State’s Department of Public Safety has had a police service contract with the Oregon State Police since 1989. The 10 officers dedicated to Oregon State take care of investigations and carry firearms, where as the campus’ public safety officers patrol the campus and offer a wide variety of security services.
“OSU has been extremely pleased with the services provided by OSP through the service contract,” said Jack Rodgers, Oregon State’s Department of Public Safety director. “There is no desire to make changes to our law enforcement services.” @@http://oregonstate.edu/dept/security/dps-staff@@
Oregon State Sen. Floyd Prozanski, who represents Lane and Douglas Counties, is an advocate for the legislation supporting University campus police. Prozanski thinks Oregon public universities need a campus police force. @@http://www.leg.state.or.us/prozanski/@@
“I think it’s time that the University has reached the top in population, and we know that people are coming onto campus that may or may not have an affiliation with the University and committing crimes,” Prozanski said. “Implementing a campus police department will put the University of Oregon on equal footing and give it quicker response times when crimes are reported. I personally think it’s time.”
UCLA’s Greenstein said that the question of whether the University should have a police force will become irrelevant once the police are implemented.
“You still have the same departments of public safety,” Greenstein said. “The only thing changing is now they have more tools. It’ll just be business as usual.”