Columbia University Adds Campus Peace Officers with Arrest Powers

After major protests on campus last year, Columbia University in New York City has made notable moves to enhance its campus security program, including appointing 36 new special patrol officers with arrest powers.

Columbia’s leaders applied to the New York City Police Department (NYPD) commissioner for peace officers last year after they had to call the NYPD twice to arrest pro-Palestinian student protesters who had set up an unauthorized encampment on campus and barricaded themselves inside an academic building, Reuters reported. 

Campus safety officials with peace officer status can take people into custody or bring them to jail if they break the law on campus—reducing the need to call in the NYPD and speeding up response times, according to CBS News. They will also be able to patrol Columbia’s privately owned buildings and gated plazas and lawns—which regular police offers are usually unable to do.

The Peace Officers law in New York allows individuals and corporations to apply to the NYPD commissioner to appoint their employees as special patrol officers with the same powers of warrantless search, arrest, and to use physical force as police officers. The officers remain Columbia employees, and the university is responsible for covering the costs of their training and salaries.

These special patrol officers underwent a 162-hour, New York State-approved training program that emphasizes ethics, professionalism, anti-bias, and conflict de-escalation, Columbia Public Safety said in a news release. The officers will not be armed, and they will be distinguishable from other public safety officers by a patch and badge. The officers must report any summonses they issue and bring anyone they arrest to the local NYPD precinct.

“Our special patrol officers will be more familiar with the university community and can provide more effective and nuanced responses to our community that are aligned with our university policies and the rules of university conduct (rules) and grounded in our core value of respect for all,” the release said.

The move complements other Columbia public safety changes, including requiring people to present university- or government-issued identification upon request and briefly remove any masks to facilitate identification (people wearing masks for religious or medical purposes can request to remove the coverings in a more private setting). Anyone refusing to show identification or remove a mask on request can be subject to a trespass notice and removal from campus. People who resist removal could be subject to arrest for trespassing.