The University of Oregon Police Department will reduce its number of armed officers and increase the number of unarmed community service officers (CSOs), President Michael Schill wrote in a campus-wide email Monday afternoon.
UOPD will reduce the number of armed police officers by 26% according to the email. The university will also hire more CSOs with the goal of increasing diversity within UOPD.
“How could you watch George Floyd on the ground with a policeman’s knee on his back, saying that he couldn’t breathe, without being affected,” Schill said in response to a question about whether the Black Lives Matter movement affected the decisions of this reform.
“Now is the time to make progress. As we move towards making progress, we can’t lose our heads as we do it,” Schill said in an interview with the Daily Emerald Staff. “We have to do it in a thoughtful way, a sustainable way, in a way that truly helps the people that we are hoping to help. A way that empowers them. We have to listen.”
Routine patrols around campus buildings that are mainly used by students will now be conducted by the unarmed CSOs, according to Schill’s email. Armed police officers will be available for quick response if warranted.
These changes are set to be implemented in the coming months, according to the email. CSOs will not wear any kind of police-style uniforms. Instead, they will wear attire that will make them easily recognizable as well as more approachable and nonthreatening.
As these changes come in the next few months, the university will also hire a consultant who is well-versed in policing and diverse communities to help develop a new police accountability board structure, options for improved mental health responses and additional changes to the functions of armed police officers, according to the email.
Schill said the university will never disband or completely disarm UOPD, adding that armed police response will occur when crimes and suspected crimes happen on campus. In his email, Schill affirmed a need for armed police officers by citing mass shootings as well as crimes that have recently happened near campus.
“The UO is a community that has been well-served by the UOPD,” Schill said in the email. “That said, the reforms I am announcing are rooted in the belief that UOPD can continue to evolve to meet the needs of all of our students, faculty, and staff.”
