University Police  

Our mission, vision and values 

University Police strive to make the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign community a safer place to live, work, study and socialize.

Vision: To continue to be a leader in policing and public service to strengthen our position as an integral part of the university and the extended community. 

Mission: Our duty is to promote a safe and secure environment where education, research, and public service can flourish. 

Values: Our values are based on the ideal of community-based public safety: 

Justice. We are committed to the administration of law and order based on the constitutional idea of justice where every person will be treated with dignity and fairness. We value our duty in safeguarding constitutional rights in serving and protecting our community. 
Respect. We value human life, safety, and dignity and are committed to treating all persons with the utmost respect, compassion, and concern. As a foundation of our Division, we hold an attitude of respect, embracing the protection of worth, dignity, and the rights of those we serve. 
Trust. We seek to enhance our community’s confidence in us as public safety resource providers, and we value the community’s feedback on everything that we do. We build this trust by cultivating genuine relationships with the people we serve and through our unwavering commitment to transparency.
Integrity. We value candor, honesty, and ethical behavior in our members and the trust of our community, holding ourselves accountable to the highest degree. 
Inclusion. We seek opportunities to engage with individuals who have varied experiences, ideas and viewpoints, and we incorporate diverse perspectives into our philosophies as they make us stronger as an organization and as public servants.

Police focus areas 

Each patrol officer has ownership of a specific focus area on campus as part of the department’s community-based philosophy. Officers build partnerships with members of their focus areas and address safety and quality of life issues with the community. These efforts include working with the community to remove the opportunity for crime to occur.

Campus law enforcement authority and jurisdiction 

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois System. We have a safe campus, but no community is immune from crime. With a student population of more than 56,000; an additional 15,000 full-time faculty and staff; and tens of thousands of visitors, it is likely that criminal activity and emergencies will occur on campus.

Under 110 ILCS 305/7, University Police are peace officers and as such have all powers possessed by police in cities, and sheriffs, including the power to make arrests on view or warrants of violations of state statutes and city or county ordinances, except that they may exercise such powers only in counties wherein the university and any of its branches or properties are located when such is required for the protection of university properties and interests, and its students and personnel, and otherwise, within such counties, when requested by appropriate state or local law enforcement officials. University Police maintain mutual-aid agreements with other local law enforcement agencies, and its 65 officers are trained just as all other public law enforcement officers in the state of Illinois are trained.

In August 2020, the University Police Department went through its third on-site assessment through the Illinois Law Enforcement Accreditation Program (ILEAP) administered by the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police. Accreditation is the ongoing process whereby an agency evaluates policy and procedure against established criteria and has compliance with that criteria verified by an independent and authoritative body. This accreditation provides a promise to the community that the University Police Department meets certain law enforcement standards to serve the community well. In 2012, the University Police Department became the first ILEAP-accredited department for a college campus.

University Police officers work with the Champaign Police Department, the Urbana Police Department, the Champaign County Sheriff’s Office, state and federal law enforcement agencies, and all appropriate agencies of the criminal justice system. These agencies routinely exchange crime-related reports and statistics and conduct cooperative patrols, special events, investigations, and special unit operations.

Off-campus crimes and University Police 

Under an intergovernmental agreement with the City of Champaign, University Police have primary jurisdiction in a specific off-campus portion of Campustown where many students reside and enjoy leisure activities. This off-campus area in Champaign is bounded by Springfield Avenue, Neil Street, Windsor Road and Wright Street. Off-campus properties outside of these boundaries are served by the Champaign Police Department.

In Urbana, University Police do not provide primary law enforcement services to off-campus residences or to sororities and fraternities, which are also considered Noncampus locations.  These properties are served by the Urbana Police Department.

University Police maintain partnerships with both the Urbana and Champaign police departments and regularly respond to student code and law violations, regardless of the geographic location of the offense. Off-campus student violations of the law or student code are addressed by the Office for Student Conflict Resolution.

Criminal activity off campus 

The Office for Student Conflict Resolution maintains close contact (daily during the academic year) with the Champaign, Urbana, and University police departments and the Champaign County Sheriff’s Office to monitor criminal activity involving students and student organizations. Administrative reports from the police departments are recorded in a memorandum format and copies of these memoranda are, if needed, forwarded to appropriate units for further action.

The university may pursue disciplinary action for off-campus violations of university rules regardless of whether the activity was criminal in nature. Reports of violations by students may be referred to the appropriate Subcommittee on Student Conduct, the Boards of Fraternity or Sorority Affairs, or the Office of Registered Student Organizations.