CCRI, URI, RIC have differing views on arming campus police

PROVIDENCE – The Community College of Rhode Island feels that arming campus police officers with firearms is “not necessary” to ensure safety of its college community at each of its four campuses around the Ocean State. The University of Rhode Island, however, said arming its campus officers was a “long-term goal” realized in 2015, while Rhode Island College sought to move the discussion from arming campus police to one that is “focused on quality assurance.”

The differing views were outlined in individual reports submitted Tuesday to the General Assembly per the request of Rep. William O’Brien, D-North Providence. He asked last year for each of the state’s public colleges – CCRI, URI and RIC – to submit recommendations on campus policing policies.

O’Brien last year introduced legislation that would require campus police at CCRI, URI and RIC to carry firearms.

In his report, CCRI Police Chief Sean T. Collins said that the college is opposed to arming campus police is because CCRI has a “multiyear plan” with CCRI’s host cities – Warwick, Lincoln, Providence and Newport – to ensure “ongoing seamless coordination” in emergencies. When situations require law-enforcement responses, armed local police officers “arrive on campus within minutes,” Collins wrote. CCRI, Collins said, also conducted various drills, including active-shooter drills on two occasions, within the last three years, and held such drills on the Newport and Warwick campuses with the campuses’ respective municipal police departments.

Additionally, CCRI’s police officers have been certified to carry pepper spray and the majority of the officers are certified to carry batons, Collins said, and are recertified biennially. CCRI also installed an alert system, called Alertus, that communicates emergency messages to the whole college community via text messages, emails and through social media platforms.

“In the event of an active threat, we have installed a push button system that activates our emergency message system immediately, alerting our community as quickly as possible,” Collins wrote, adding that CCRI, per its accreditation, has policies to address all threats, including bomb threats and chemical spills.

URI Police Chief and Public Safety Director Stephen N. Baker said campus police officers were armed in May 2015 after holding multiple forums and discussions on campus engaging the community on the matter. Campus police were also armed in response to both the 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech, Baker said, and also a 2013 incident on the URI campus in which numerous calls came in about a man with a gun inside Room 271 of the Chafee Social Science Center that prompted a “large-scale response” from R.I. State Police and other local municipal police departments.

Baker said in his report that URI Police has 34 armed staff, including 22 officers, four sergeants, two corporals and Baker, himself. He said R.I. State Police and Brown University Police – the only other campus police force in Rhode Island that is armed – were “extremely helpful” in helping URI with its arming process, Baker said.

“[R.I. State Police and Brown University Police] should be utilized to assist should CCRI and/or RIC decide to arm their police officers,” Baker wrote. “The men and women of the URI Police Department offer their assistance in that endeavor.”

Baker also wrote it is “imperative” that armed police officers continually train regarding active-shooter situations “along with annual or more frequent firearms qualifications.” He also noted that campus police “need” to train with local municipal and state police departments.

RIC President Frank D. Sanchez wrote in a Tuesday letter that maintaining a safe campus environment is both the college’s top priority and an “essential component” to student success at the college. However, Sanchez wrote, the responsibility “does not exist in a vacuum.”

“Coupled with our commitment to safety is the college’s commitment to fostering a culture of respect, inclusion and shared responsibility through things that we think, say and do,” Sanchez wrote in the letter that accompanies a four-page report of recommendations by RIC Police Chief and Director of Security and Safety James J. Mendonca.

Mendonca said that 15 policies have been implemented since he took over as head of the campus’ police force in late April, noting that RIC police officers are trained in use of handcuffs and pepper spray as part of a “less than lethal force” best-practices training.

He also said the college could consider other nonlethal measures to arm officers, such as auto-lock expandable batons and possibly tasers. But, in addition to considering cost, Mendonca said that any implementation of new options for arming officers would go in effect “upon approval of the senior leadership after input from the campus safety and security committee.”

Arming campus police officers would also be costly for CCRI, Collins said. The estimated startup cost, obtaining firearms, the training, ammunition, body armor, locker and security camera installation, and other accessories, for the college is $203,850. CCRI also estimates an additional recurring annual cost of $12,800 for continuous training, ammunition, supplies and new body armor. Collins wrote that extensive training for officers could take “more than a year” to complete.

Baker said URI’s anticipated budget for one-time equipment costs in 2014 were around $153,000 and $23,000 in annual expenditures range costs, bulletproof vest replacements, training overtime costs and other costs. He also anticipates that the current costs for arming “would be higher today” than in 2014 when URI was in the arming process.

James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com.