George Washington U’s police chief resigns

George Washington University Police Chief James Tate has resigned after being placed on leave a few days earlier because the university’s police department is said to have made numerous mistakes in arming its officers.

Allegations of the botched implementation, as well as news of Tate’s suspension and subsequent resignation, were first reported by The hatchetthe GWU student newspaper.

In a Tuesday announcement about Tate’s resignation, university officials gave no explanation as to why he resigned. In an email sent to police on Friday, they also did not say why he had been placed on leave The hatchet received and shared with others Inside Higher Ed.

The change of leadership takes place shortly afterwards The hatchet released reports from six former members of the police department and personnel documents alleging that efforts to arm police officers last year were mishandled. The allegations included claims that Tate “routinely” improperly stored his weapon and that he and a police captain, Gabe Mullinax, had weapons on them at the start of the rollout that had not been registered with the city of Washington, DC

This was announced by the city’s Metropolitan Police Department Inside Higher Ed via email that the first GWPD weapons were registered on September 29, 2023, about a month after the university announced that Tate and his colleague had begun carrying their weapons.

Administrators told the Faculty Senate that the university had launched an investigation into the firearms adoption process after a senator, Philip W. Wirtz, a professor in the School of Business, asked about it ax Article, according to the minutes of the Faculty Senate meeting on October 4th.

In a statement emailed to Inside Higher EdUniversity spokeswoman Julia Metjian said concerns raised in the first phase of implementation last October were “investigated, addressed and resolved before beginning the second phase of arming the GWPD,” but she did not explain what those concerns included.

“We can also confirm that the university is investigating several new questions about the GWPD that have recently been raised and will engage an outside expert to conduct an assessment of the measures taken to ensure security and compliance during the arming process,” said she wrote. “This firm will also conduct a review of existing training protocols that meet the District of Columbia standards for police officers to strengthen and continually improve the readiness of our police force.”

Long-term pushback

The decision to arm GWPD officers has been controversial since it was first announced in April 2023, when then-President Mark S. Wrighton said the decision was prompted by increasing gun violence across the country – particularly in K-12 schools and colleges. was inspired by a desire to respond more quickly to threats on campus rather than relying on city law enforcement.

Many students and faculty opposed the decision; 20 student organizations argued in a letter to the administration that arming officers puts the GW community at risk of police violence. They also noted that there were no incidents on campus last year that required the use of deadly weapons.

“The vast majority of cases in which GWPD is called to action are to resolve conflicts and calm intoxicated students. If GWPD is responsible for protecting student safety on campus, it would have the ability to implement de-escalation measures,” the organizations wrote, calling on the university to reverse its plan to arm officers. “The presence of guns on campus can only put students at risk of gun violence.”

More than 200 faculty members signed a similar letter, and in October 2023, the Faculty Senate passed a resolution asking the administration to pause the rollout until the university released the data it had collected that reflected the community’s views and feedback on the plan to arm campus police officers.

GW is not alone; As private, armed police forces become more common on campuses across the country, students, employees and outside community members are pushing back with similar concerns. In the spring, many critics felt their fears confirmed when university police officers, often in conjunction with local law enforcement, arrested student protesters in pro-Palestinian camps across the country, in some cases with violence. In GW in May, city police used pepper spray to clear an encampment and arrest 33 people.

Despite the criticism, the GWU process took place in three phases. First, Tate and Mullinax began carrying weapons at the beginning of the 2023 academic year, according to a September 1, 2023 press release. Then, in early February of this year, the GWPD armed five more officers. The rollout was finally completed last month with all supervisory officers being armed (those not in supervisory roles do not carry weapons).

However, on September 30th The hatchet published an investigation with reports from former officials who said they found several deficiencies in the implementation process. For one thing, they claimed, the 56 hours of firearms training the officers had undergone was inadequate and intended for security personnel rather than police. Additionally, a former lieutenant stated that there was a lack of training in de-escalation and responding to active shooter situations.

The student newspaper also reported that Mullinax filed two HR reports, one about the unregistered guns — which he said he stopped using when he realized they weren’t registered with the city — and the second about Tate’s unsafe ones Weapon storage practices.

The faculty expressed concern about the allegations contained therein The hatchet‘s reporting. Wirtz, the professor who asked about the claims at the Oct. 4 Faculty Senate meeting, said Inside Higher Ed in an email that he doesn’t yet know what to think about the situation.

“If the allegations are reported The hatchet are correct, that is deeply disturbing. president [Ellen] Granberg was asked whether the allegations were true and she promised to investigate immediately. She has neither confirmed nor denied the allegations, so they remain “allegations reported by her” until we hear the results of the investigation The hatchet‘,” he said.

However, he fears that even after the investigation is completed, the whole story will not come to light.

“President Granberg has given the Senate no clear assurance that this will be the case,” he wrote. “The GW administration must be fully transparent on this matter: failure to submit the full report to the Senate would raise suspicions that would be impossible to quell.”