The question of arming campus public safety officers at Portland State has been circulating for several months, with many in the PSU community wondering what the best solution is while the pros and cons are weighed on both sides of the discussion.
OHSU seeks armed officers, PSU still debating topic
The question of arming campus public safety officers at Portland State has been circulating for several months, with many in the PSU community wondering what the best solution is while the pros and cons are weighed on both sides of the discussion.
Those opposing the formation of PSU’s own campus police department have consistently cited the arming of police officers as a top issue to be considered in this process.
Meanwhile, another local university is actively seeking to arm its public safety officers.
Oregon Health and Science University is currently pursuing authorization already granted to members of the Oregon University System that allows them to create campus police departments and arm and train university police officers, said Jim Newman of OHSU’s communications department.
“If and when OHSU receives this authority, university officials will continue a decision-making process that may eventually result in the arming of OHSU police officers,” Newman said.
However, OHSU wants to make sure proper training and “oversight systems” can be established to enhance safety and security while reducing risk on OHSU’s campus.
“Only [then would OHSU] proceed with arming campus police officers,” Newman said.
The discussion regarding whether OHSU should arm its campus safety officers has been going on for many years, and in 2008 a committee was created to respond to this issue.
The task force included OHSU neighbors, Oregon legislators, public safety experts and OHSU officials.
“[They] recommended that OHSU either seek to arm its officers or contract with an external armed police agency to ensure rapid response, if needed,” Newman said.
Since the committee’s recommendation in 2008, further research has been done at OHSU to shed light on the best way to proceed.
The research found that forming a campus police department and arming university police officers is a better option for OHSU than contracting with an external agency, Newman said.
“Extensive OHSU research has concluded that patients, visitors and staff members will be most effectively protected with specialized training and careful oversight of armed university police officers rather than use of contracted officers,” he said.
Currently, OHSU’s Department of Public Safety operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with a staff of 40 “dedicated professionals responsible for insuring the safety of [OHSU’s] campus,” according to its website.
The Oregon Legislature passed a bill allowing colleges and universities to create their own police departments in fall 2011. The University of Oregon was the first university in the state to take advantage of this opportunity.
OHSU’s Department of Public Safety website can be found at ohsu.edu/xd/about/services/public-safety/about-us/index.cfm.
are getting sloppy like the Emerald at University of Oregon. If this is the quality of research that is done before the University lowers your funding I cringe to wonder what it will look like after this. Just so information is accurate let us be clear about exactly what OHSU is doing.
In 2009 the Oregon Legislature passed Senate Bill 658 that allowed OHSU (and only OHSU) to form a police department. Because OHSU is a public private corporation, they have a special statute that governs their law enforcement. This bill specifically prohibited firearms for their police officers. It also allows their police officers to strike. This was a poorly written bill but it was thought that it was the best they could get at the time. Since 2009, OHSU has been forming a police department. They have police officers. See Oregon Revised Statutes 353.050 to confirm what I am writing. So the article saying that OHSU is trying to form a police department is inaccurate. They are attempting to go back and fix the mistakes they made in 2009. In order to do so, they must have the legislature change the statute.
As if that was not enough inaccuracy, near the end it is stated that the Oregon Legislature passed a bill in the Fall of 2011 to allow the State Universities to form police departments. You are referring to Senate Bill 405. This bill was passed on June 14th 2011. The governor signed the bill on June 23rd 2011. This bill was an emergency bill and therefore became effective immediately upon signing. Perhaps you confuse the passing of the bill with University of Oregon receiving authority to form a police department. That occurred on October 11th 2011. At that time the Oregon University System Board told U of O that they would need to come back before the board for the authority to carry firearms. Unlike Senate Bill 658, Senate Bill 405 did not have a firearm prohibition; therefore that decision is made at the System Board level for now. This however may change with legislation this year that clearly states that police officers in Oregon carry firearms.
This entire exercise of playing mother may I on tools that police officers are expected to have in Oregon is quite ridiculous. The academy requires all officers in training to have firearms. When OHSU and U of O sent officers to the academy they had firearms and were certified in their use. They then returned to their campuses and locked up the firearms. I will not get into the fallacy of training officers in a manner that includes the firearm as a tool and then removing that tool. However one might imagine that it could be a disaster. I will close with reminding all readers that all of these campuses have an armed police response. In the case of OHSU and PSU it is the Portland Police Bureau; at U of O it is Eugene Police. I believe all of the Universities have made a compelling argument for why a campus police department would benefit the university community. However without proper tools there will continue to be a heavy reliance on the municipal departments and their service delivery criteria and style. This criteria and style are not best suited for a university environment. Let us stop playing boogey man games on firearms for trained police officers and instead work on forming the best police department that Portland State University can have.
Apparently I am getting sloppy. I cut the first part of my post when I went to paste. The first sentence should read “Oh Vanguard you are getting sloppy like the Emerald at University of Oregon.” It loses some of the sting when you can’t even cut and paste properly. However my corrections and commentary still apply.