It has been a busy spring semester. I want to thank my staff and colleagues as well as the students for welcoming me into my new role at Bucknell. As we move forward, I’ll be sharing Public Safety activities, initiatives and projects with the campus community in this blog. I hope you’ll check back regularly for updates

Over the last two months, Public Safety has been working to listen to the concerns of our campus community. We know it takes time to build trust. We also know trust is a two-way street. As we increase our engagement activities, we invite stakeholders to partner with us. 

I want to highlight a recent event hosted by the Committee on Campus & Student Life (CCSL) on March 30. This “Pizza with the Police” event was an opportunity for students and staff to get to know Public Safety officers over food. The agenda was simply to talk with each other. This event highlights how we can get to know each other through informal, positive interactions. This was a great experience, and we enjoyed meeting many students. Below are some photos from the event as well as other recent meetings with our students:

Update on  Recent Activities

• We have been working diligently to increase positive engagement opportunities with the campus community. Whether it is stopping by the common areas of the residence halls just to say hello, spending more time in different campus facilities to meet and interact with students and staff, or popping into events to support our students, we are committed to the process of building trust.
• We have also been working to put into action some of the feedback we have received directly from students. That includes exploring the creation of a hybrid response model, with a new, unarmed staff member who can respond to non-criminal complaints like noise, lockouts, jumpstarts, etc. This position is not being created to replace or reduce the number of sworn police officers, but to enhance our service delivery. 
• The creation of a Campus Safety & Advisory Committee chaired by students is also underway, and we are working to create a social media presence and profile for the fall semester to enhance communication with students. 
• Finally, at the request of students, we will host student-only forums next semester.

Update on Some of Our Current Initiatives:

• We are working on our new policy manual. In the interest of transparency, we want to post many of our policies to our webpage.
• We are working on implementing body cameras throughout the department for the fall semester.
• We are working to upgrade our radio system.
• We are working on our training plan for our department members and posting information about the training on our website. We are excited to partner with the DEI office on this new curriculum to ensure we are attentive to the needs of the community we serve.
• We are working to streamline and update our department webpage to make information easier to find. We will include information about the public servants working at Public Safety. 
• We are using Guardian Score to solicit feedback on our service. Officers are handing out business cards with a QR code after interactions with the community. The feedback from the campus community will provide valuable data for us based on the tenets of procedural justice. More information is available on the Guardian Score website. 

Update on Parking

Parking is a highly charged topic on our campus. I have quickly learned that perceptions vary among students and employees. What is consistent is the level of frustration. University employees feel frustrated by students parking in staff lots, and students are frustrated by the lack of “close” spaces for them near academic buildings. Our University is not alone in dealing with the challenges of parking. It is a complex problem on college campuses across the country.

We are proposing several changes that will take effect starting in the fall of 2022. If you have thoughts on how we can improve parking on our campus, please consider joining the parking committee. Please feel free to reach out to me for information on how to join.

Upcoming Events

• On Monday, April 4, we will host the final open forum of this semester from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Walls Lounge in the ELC. The Margolis Healy report and a review of the March forum will be the main topics. 
• On Friday, April 15, BVRPD Chief Yost and I will talk with students at an event sponsored by BSG. 

We look forward to continuing to serve our campus community. If you have any questions, ideas or comments, please reach out to us at publicsafety@bucknell.edu

Sincerely,

Chief Anthony Morgan