An update about the Campus Public Safety Office

Campus Public Security Office Chief Willie Halliburton
Campus Public Safety Office Chief Willie Halliburton

Dear Campus Community,

In August, we announced that our Campus Public Safety Police Officers will move to unarmed patrols, and Chief Willie Halliburton began the process of implementing the necessary policies and practices. It is an important new approach to policing and represents a commitment by CPSO to align our public safety practices with our institutional ethos and to help the PSU community heal. 

We set an aggressive implementation timeline with the hope of completing the work this fall. While we are making steady progress, we are not on track to achieve our goal as soon as we’d hoped. 

We remain committed to unarmed patrols.  

To hear more about Chief Halliburton’s personal commitment, please watch this video. Additionally, in this email you will find a comprehensive progress report and a description of how we are implementing a number of measures designed to ensure transparency in the process.

Building a new kind of police office 
We are developing a team of sworn officers deeply invested in a new approach to public safety. To ensure the safety of unarmed officers, we decided that it is necessary to have a minimum of at least two officers on duty during every shift. This is the plan we have been working to implement. However, setting our efforts back, three sworn officers recently resigned or announced their intentions to retire. We thank them for their service and wish them well. Full implementation of unarmed campus patrols requires sufficient staffing of CPSO to ensure we are able to meet the minimum two officers per shift standard.

PSU is fortunate to have one of the state’s most diverse and well-trained teams of sworn and non-sworn officers. We will continue to recruit new officers who, like those who are continuing with CPSO, are committed to moving forward with this bold new style of policing. CPSO also continues to employ many non-sworn public safety officers and student safety ambassadors.

Reviewing policies and procedures 
We are unaware of any other police agency in the nation that has shifted from armed to unarmed patrols by sworn officers. Agencies across the country are contacting us wanting to know how we are going about creating this new reality. The shift requires updating hundreds of policies and procedures related to CPSO. The work is currently undergoing internal and external legal review. When the review is completed, the updated policies will be submitted to the University Public Safety Oversight Committee for approval. 

Additionally, the change in policy increases our reliance on partnerships with the City of Portland and the Portland Police Bureau. We are working diligently with these organizations to reach agreements that provide the support necessary to keep our campus safe. 

Moving forward with transparency
We understand that this issue is of significant interest to our campus community. We commit to the following actions to keep the community informed:

  • Campuswide progress reports
  • Online updates regarding the hiring progress of the PSU Campus Public Safety Office 

November CPSO Town Hall
We are organizing a November town hall meeting to better answer specific questions about this complex shift in how we approach policing on our campus as well as any questions or concerns about public safety on our campus. 

We reiterate the steadfast commitment by CPSO to implement these changes as soon as safely possible. Your patience and support is greatly appreciated as we continue this important work. 


Sincerely, 

Stephen Percy 
PSU President 

Willie Halliburton 
Chief of Police / Director of Public Safety