The GW Police Department armed its two top officers and has plans to arm four more by the end of the month, per a University release Friday.
The release states that officials plan to arm four additional lieutenants with 9 mm handguns by the end of the month after announcing that they armed GWPD Chief James Tate and Captain Gabe Mullinax in late August, marking a shift to phase two of the University’s plan to arm about 20 officers this fall. At a Student Association meeting last week, Tate said the University’s arming plan will cost officials roughly $150,000 in the first year and $50,000 every year following it.
He said the department will fund arming GWPD officers by pulling from the police department’s “internal operating budget” of unused salaries because the department is currently understaffed. The $50,000 annual cost in future years will go toward maintaining the department’s virtual reality simulator, which will be used to train new officers, and an assets locker which will store the guns, Tate said at the meeting.
Officials ensured Tate and Mullinax met training requirements before arming them and created a “secure storage space,” the release states.
“GWPD is committed to protecting the safety of our community,” Tate said in the release. “I want us to continue to have an open dialogue and work in partnership with our students, faculty and staff. I am looking forward to more events and meetings where I can interact with the community and hear your perspectives about our implementation process and safety broadly on our campuses.”
The release also states that officials established an interim independent review committee with an undergraduate student, a graduate student, three faculty members and two staff members. Committee members include Mitchell Foster, the assistant director for residential equity and assessment, Lionel Howard, the academic dean for the Graduate School of Education and Human Development, John Philbeck, the vice dean for faculty affairs, and chair Amita Vyas, a professor in the Prevention and Community Health Department of the Milken Institute School of Public Health, the release states.
Officials will schedule community forums — with the first taking place next Friday — where students, faculty and staff can ask questions about the arming process and provide feedback, the release states. University leadership will also discuss faculty involvement in the implementation of the policy at Friday’s Faculty Senate meeting, according to the release.
