GW Police Department Chief James Tate said it will cost the University roughly $150,000 to arm about 20 GWPD officers with handguns this fall at a Student Association meeting last week.
Tate said implementing the new policy will cost about $150,000 in funding for the first year and $50,000 every year thereafter. He said 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.
The costs are the latest pieces of information from officials about the University’s five-point plan for arming the department after they announced the decision in April. GWPD equipped the department’s top two officers, Tate and Captain Gabe Mullinax, with 9 mm handguns late last month as phase one of the plan and now aim to arm four lieutenants by the end of September, according to a University release Friday.
Tate said the department will fund arming GWPD officers by pulling from the their “internal operating budget” of unused salaries because the department is currently understaffed.
“Because we are short staffed, that means I have salary saved,” Tate said. “So I’m not spending that money on salaries right now, so I can use those funds to help with this project.”
SA Sen. Walters Tebung (SMHS-G) said he was “worried” about arming GWPD officers due to the risk of gun violence and police brutality in the United States. In response, Tate said he understands there is a “gun epidemic” in the U.S. and that there are “far too many” guns available to people that should not have them. He said adding weapons to any space offers “good reason” for concern because of the possibility of police misconduct.
“We also have this issue with police misconduct in this country that’s often played out through our news,” Tate said. “We see these instances, whether it’s George Floyd in Minneapolis, or Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tenn., where police misconduct is off the charts and it hurts all of us.”
Tate said in order to combat these issues, he sets expectations with GWPD officers and provides training on what they need to do the job and to “do it well.” He said GWPD officers also wear body cameras and that officials pull recordings at random from officers on the street every 30 days to examine if officers are following department policies.
“We want to understand how their interactions are working or how they’re doing with the community,” Tate said. “If you do that on a regular basis, you will begin to see little issues showing up just by reviewing video.”
Tate said that reviewing video helps the department “get ahead” of problems before the issue turns into “a George Floyd” or “a Tyre Nichols.”
SA President Arielle Geismar said she was “pleased” that Tate was present at the meeting but that she is against the University’s decision to move forward with the plan. Geismar said she is “exploring the potential” of opening a student-run task force through the SA to hold GWPD accountable. She said she invites any students interested in joining the task force to email her at [email protected].
“As I have publicly shared before and will share again, I am against the decision to arm GWPD,” Geismar said. “Research shows that guns do not make us safer but our community does.”
SA Legislative Budget Office Assistant Connor Linggi also said he is “disappointed” with the move to arm GWPD officers.
“I just think it’s a poor decision that we’ve come to, and I’m just disappointed to learn that we are going to go forward with that,” Linggi said.
Senators also unanimously passed a special resolution that will allocate the legislative branch’s funding for undergraduate and graduate student life events on campus.
SA Vice President Demetrius Apostolis, who sponsored the FY24 Legislative Operational Budget Act, said the bill will fund campus programming for events like GW Palooza, a weekend-long series of spirit events held annually on President’s Day weekend, and the GW Career Exploration Expo. The bill will also fund supplies, like food and drinks, for full senate meetings and town halls.
“We’re really excited to have a welcoming space for students in the Student Association office as well as having the necessary supplies to put on events and have spaces that are inclusive to all students,” Apostolis said.
Apostolis said the budget will put a total of $500 toward transportation and travel for graduate students who need to commute to campus for SA-related events. Last year, the SA allotted $1,000 toward travel, which went unused, Apostolis said.
He said he believed it was important to include the funds in the budget but cut the money previously allocated to transportation in half and reallocated it toward funding other events. He said the senate could later pass a budget amendment to allocate more funds towards transportation if needed.
Senators also confirmed Henry Mills as chief counsel to the senate and Nate Gattusso as deputy counsel to the senate.
Senators will hold the next SA meeting Sept. 11. at 8 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom at the University Student Center.
