BOR Establishes Formal Approval Process for Armed Police Forces on Community College Campuses

Today, the Connecticut Board of Regents established a formal approval process for community colleges wishing to have armed police forces on their campuses. The community colleges must submit a comprehensive application package including an overview of buildings and grounds, police force description, an incident response plan, and a use of force policy among a long list of items. All armed security are required to be Police Officers Standards Training (POST) certified. The application packages will be reviewed by a committee comprised of Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) legal and human resources staff and then submitted for final approval to the CSCU President. More details on the approval process can be found here on page 91.

“Providing community colleges the option to have special police forces on campus is driven by the desire consistently expressed by students, faculty and staff to feel safe.  It is part of our larger approach including reviewing all of our support services and physical infrastructure to ensure we’re doing everything we can to protect the learning environment on all of our campuses,” said CSCU President Mark Ojakian. 

Regent Merle Harris, chair of the Academic and Student Affairs Committee said, "Our mission is to provide an affordable, accessible, high quality education at all of our institutions. To accomplish this mission, we must foster an environment where students, faculty and staff feel safe.   The passage of this thorough approval process moves us in that direction."

Background:

• In December of 2015, the CT Board of Regents approved a resolution to allow the Community Colleges to train and authorize their security police officers to carry firearms with designated Police Officers Standards Training (POST) 
• In May of this year, the CT General Assembly passed Public Act 16-154 to allow special police forces on CSCU Community College campuses
• All four state universities (Eastern, Southern, Central and Western) have Police Officers Standards Training (POST) certified security along with the University of Connecticut and Naugatuck Valley Community College