by Portland State Magazine
October 16th 2020
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Chief of Campus Public Safety Willie Halliburton has worked for PSU since February 2016.—Peter Simon
A month after taking the helm of PSU’s Campus Public Safety Office, Chief Willie Halliburton announced that Campus Public Safety officers would begin patrolling campus without firearms.
“At Portland State, we need to heal, and this is the first step in healing,” Halliburton said, referring to the 2018 fatal shooting of Jason Washington by campus police officers. “I’m so proud to be a part of this historic, groundbreaking way of doing police work.”
A new Reimagine Campus Safety committee appointed by PSU President Stephen Percy will make recommendations this fall for innovative approaches to handling different types of safety and security situations. Officers will carry nonlethal tasers.
“Over the past few weeks we have listened to many voices across our campus,” President Percy wrote in an August email to the campus community.
“The calls for change that we are hearing at PSU are ringing out across our nation. We must find a new way to protect the safety of our community, one that eliminates systemic racism and promotes the dignity of all who come to our urban campus.”