How we serve

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Division of Public Safety operates with a singular mission: To promote a safe and secure environment where education, research and public service can flourish.

We do this through embracing a community-oriented approach through our values of justice, respect, trust, integrity and inclusion.

Who we are

The Division of Public Safety has a number of operational units that work together to provide comprehensive campus safety:

• The University of Illinois Police Department operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It is fully-accredited like any other police department, and its officers provide patrol services, emergency response and investigative resources.
  • Patrol operations are the backbone of that effort. The most basic service any police department can provide is a quick response when someone calls 911. Our patrol officers do that and more. They are the first to respond when anyone needs an officer, and their careful documenting and monitoring of criminal activity in our area provides the foundation investigators and crime prevention experts need to take public safety one step further. 
  • The Community Outreach and Support Team provides educational and community-oriented program to empower our campus community members to look out for themselves and others. Within COAST, the Response, Evaluation and Crisis Help (REACH) initiative is an innovative co-response model that pairs mental health professionals with police officers to respond to crisis emergencies.
  • Detectives in our Investigations division provide services adapted for a college campus. Detectives are specially trained to support and care for survivors of sexual assault, as well as investigate other crimes of a violent nature. When crime does happen, it is our goal to identify and apprehend offenders as quickly as possible.
• The Emergency Management Department works full-time to ensure every university facility is prepared for otherwise unimaginable emergencies. It is only through this kind of preparation and ongoing training for evolving conditions that our campus can react quickly in extraordinary situations which occur with alarming frequency throughout the country.
• Our Security office is another layer of safety, providing an extra presence at key university properties like libraries and housing. With security personnel on the street, we can identify and respond to safety issues more rapidly.
• Compliance staff members work in an ongoing effort to maintain campus compliance with mandates set forth in legislation like the Clery Act, Violence Against Women Act, Title IX, Preventing Sexual Violence in Higher Education Act, protection of minors and many other federal and state laws that regulate university procedures. These experts are specially trained in interpreting very complex statutes which would subject the university to significant penalties if it were to fall or remain out of compliance.
• Student Patrol officers are trained students that provide another campus patrol asset, as well as the free SafeWalks program to help our campus community members travel safely at night.

Our strategy

The Division of Public Safety has been a leader in progressive approaches to campus safety, but there remains much work to be done. Our strategic plan lays out our primary focus areas for the next three years, which are intentionally responsive to the needs voiced by our community during the past year.

Our work

The Division of Public Safety is a group of professionals, and our work speaks for itself:

• The University of Illinois Police Department is a Tier II accredited agency by the Illinois Law Enforcement Accreditation Program. This is the highest recognition any law enforcement agency in the state can receive, and it reflects the fact that our training and policies are up to the highest professional standards.
• Our efforts have earned a Ready To Respond campus designation from the Illinois Emergency Management Agency — meaning that we have the appropriate resources in place to quickly mitigate and recover from natural and manmade disasters.
• The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is a StormReady campus, as determined by the National Weather Service. That means our evacuation plans, shelter resources and education have been vetted and rated among the highest by severe weather professionals.
• Our Clery compliance program was recently awarded as the Clery Compliance Program of the Year, recognizing the fact that our division’s efforts to inform and educate community members about public safety issues has been transparent and effective.