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University police report describes dispatch move, campus safety upgrades and staffing shortfalls
Summary
The university police chief told the Board of Regents governance committee the department completed a move of its dispatch operations, placed AEDs and naloxone across campus, faces persistent recruitment and retention challenges, and is planning space and technology partnerships in a new facility expected in 2027.
The university police chief updated the governance committee on recent operational changes and staffing challenges. The department completed a move from Sherpa Annex to temporary space in Horace Mann, brought the dispatch center back online, and reported ongoing work to catalog equipment and storage needs after the relocation.
The chief said the department doubled its automated external defibrillators (AEDs) across campus and placed naloxone (NARCAN) in every building; he reported none of that equipment has been used to date and noted naloxone typically carries about a two-year shelf life and will be checked regularly.
Staffing remains a primary challenge. The chief said the department currently is short two officers, expects a third vacancy from an upcoming retirement and has struggled to attract qualified applicants. He described a constrained hiring pool and pay-compression issues between long-tenured officers and newly hired recruits. The chief estimated uniform and equipment costs can be substantial—on the order of several thousand dollars per officer—and said those costs and turnover make staffing replacements expensive.
As a recruitment tool, the chief said he has proposed expanding employee education benefits beyond the current three-credit limit, suggesting that a more generous tuition waiver could make campus positions more competitive. The committee chair and staff indicated favorable interest in exploring changes while noting policy safeguards would be needed to prevent abuse.
The chief described a planned operational partnership tied to a new regional facility referenced in the presentation as the KPI Building and the Day Guide Building; he said discussions with architects and partners are under way, that the department expects to house a full dispatch operation there, and that the facility could open in 2027. The chief also discussed possible force multipliers—including more advanced campus video analytics, drones and AI—to augment patrol coverage given recruiting challenges, and raised jurisdictional issues for downtown areas such as Block 22 where campus police currently lack expanded off-campus jurisdiction.
No formal committee action was taken on the police report; the briefing served as an informational update to the governance committee.
