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Amid Criticism, USF Overhauling Campus Security

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By ADAM EMERSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 27, 2007

TAMPA - University of South Florida leaders are overhauling their campus safety efforts amid mounting criticism that they're failing to do enough.

To enhance its thinning campus police force, USF has hired private security firm Allied Barton to provide unarmed patrols of residence halls and campus events.

Allied Barton also patrols the University of Central Florida, and may have its guards on USF's Tampa campus next week. USF Chief Financial Officer Carl Carlucci said he's negotiating a contract with the security firm that may total $200,000 this fiscal year.

USF President Judy Genshaft also said she plans to hire a campus safety czar to lead a new division that will oversee police, parking and emergency needs, such as those a hurricane can create.

The changes come as a chorus of complaints about campus safety grows louder - from students to the university's own police officers.

Student Says It's 'Good First Step'

Just a week ago, student government leaders staged a sit-in of about 70 students at the administration building to protest the negligence they say the administration has shown toward funding its police department.

Student government Vice President Faran Abbasi called the new safety efforts 'a good first step,' but said the university still needs more police officers to enforce law and order on campus.

'This is a good supplement, but it's not going to solve the problem,' Abbasi said.

USF Police Chief Thomas Longo has long said the problem is that he's losing younger officers to higher-paying jobs at police departments throughout the Tampa Bay area. Contract negotiations between USF's police union and administration have grown tense in recent weeks, with police demanding a higher starting salary for officers than the $35,041 they currently get. A rookie deputy with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office can earn $39,115.

The USF police department has 41 officers patrolling a campus of 38,000 students, though it has a budget to hire 49.

Despite the shortage, Longo said the unarmed private security force can provide basic foot patrol, freeing his sworn officers for law enforcement.

It's a model he has said has worked at other universities. Allied Barton, for instance, works with police forces at Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania, both in Philadelphia, Vanderbilt University in Nashville, and the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.

USF allocated up to $13,000 to survey its safety needs, and recently received bids from nine security firms to provide foot patrols. Allied Barton won because of its experience providing security at other schools, Carlucci said.

The consultant's report wasn't due until December. But university spokesman Ken Gullette said there has been 'frustration' that the university's critics have controlled the public dialogue on campus safety and that Genshaft 'wants to act now.'

Genshaft said USF intends to recruit officers to fill the vacant police positions, and the money for Allied Barton won't come out of the police department's budget. She did not specify where the money would come from.

Genshaft said the private guards will provide relief from time-consuming, menial tasks police perform while on patrol. About a dozen security guards may begin patrolling residence halls starting next week.

The guards eventually will fall under the supervision of a new senior administrator who will orchestrate all police and security services on campus. The search for that administrator is under way.

Plans On Heels Of Virginia Tech

The newest security efforts come partly out of the state's call to boost campus safety after the massacre at Virginia Tech last spring. A university safety task force in Florida suggested, among other things, that schools hire an emergency management director and create better salary and benefits packages to recruit officers.

Genshaft said a 'strong' salary offer 'is on the table.' Union negotiations continue. The salary for a new security czar, which has not yet been determined, will come out of reallocated funds in the university's budget, Genshaft said.

Until that new director is hired, police and security matters will fall under Carlucci's supervision.

The vice president of student affairs, Jennifer Meningall, had been responsible for managing the police department's budget and affairs. Meningall, though, has come under fire from student government leaders, who say she hasn't spent enough on security measures.

An employee of Meningall's recently sent an e-mail criticizing her accounting practices, and a university audit of that and other claims is under way. One review already absolved Meningall of any wrongdoing, however. And Genshaft said that Carlucci already oversees parking enforcement and emergency response.

Reporter Adam Emerson can be reached at (813) 259-8285 or aemerson@tampatrib.com.

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