UIC Public Safety Board approved recommendations

Dear students, faculty and staff,

The UIC Public Safety Board has been formally established as an enduring board to provide opportunities to improve public safety on campus based on feedback gathered directly from community members. As part of these efforts, the board, in partnership with the UIC Police Department, will make recommendations about issues related to public safety at UIC, especially viewed from a perspective of racial equity and social justice.

Below is a summary of the approved Public Safety Board recommendations from 2021:

• The UIC Public Safety Board will be an enduring board.
• Public safety advisories no longer will routinely use race, ethnicity or national origin as a descriptor.
• UIC will establish a behavioral health crisis mobile response team within the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs. Modeled after Crisis Assistance Helping Out On the Streets and Support Team Assisted Response, this program will provide non-police crisis intervention measures for students and other community members undergoing a behavioral health crisis.
• UIC Police will engage with the campus community via a series of educational listening sessions and town halls on the following topics: campus vs. city policing, how to report a complaint, police perspectives on abolish/defund the police, police accountability, campus safety resources, police training and mental health.
• UIC Police will create a position to support the promotion and communication of Police Advancing Community Engagement events.
• UIC Police will identify strategic partnerships, such as the Office of Community Collaborations and community property managers, that PACE and UIC Police can work with to better address community relations and messaging.
• UIC Police will revise the liaison model, so that campus and community stakeholders can meet with their liaison at minimum four times a year. Also, an additional two officers will be added so that community engagement is feasible for each officer and their additional responsibilities.
• The Public Safety Board will work with campus administration to provide transparency as to the budgets related to safety and policing. General budgets should be provided for UIC Police, Campus Security, Student Patrol and UIC Night Ride services.
• The Public Safety Advisory Board and UIC Police will post updates to the Advancing Racial Equity and UIC Police websites, including any student or faculty demands around policing.

This month we will reconvene the UIC Public Safety Board, co-chaired by Dr. H. Steven Sims and Joy Vergara. The board will also review safety feedback from our students, which will provide us critical insight to make UIC a safer and more welcoming community.

We look forward to implementing the above recommendations and working to make significant progress on the long-term strategies to improve public safety at UIC.

Sincerely,

Michael D. Amiridis
Chancellor

H. Steven Sims, MD, FACS
Francis L. Lederer Professor of Otolaryngology-HNS

R. Joy Vergara, M.Ed.
Executive Director
Center for Student Involvement
Student Leadership & Civic Engagement