Safety officials said eight GW Police Department officers are armed — far fewer than the 22 officials intended to arm under a 2023 plan — and defended scaling back security in upperclassmen residence halls at Monday’s Student Government Association meeting.
GW Police Chief Victor Brito and Associate Vice President for Campus Safety Katie McDonald briefed the SGA on GWPD arming, the presence of federal immigration agents on campus and reduced security in upperclassmen residence halls during a 30-minute question-and-answer session. Brito said the number of sworn-in GWPD officers sits in the “high thirties,” with eight currently armed.
“We have eight. So if you extrapolate that over three shifts in seven days, it’s very limited,” Brito said.
Officials last September said they expected to arm 22 officers after filling vacancies, but McDonald on Monday said there are “currently no plans” to arm additional officers beyond the eight. Last September, former GWPD Sergeant Ryan Monteiro — who left in May 2024 — said about six or seven officers were armed as the department faced heavy turnover.
McDonald said GWPD is exempt from the hiring freeze officials enacted in July.
SGA Sen. Justin Liu (CCAS-U) asked Brito to name the eight armed officers, and Brito said he couldn’t recall all their names but could share them with the community.
He said the department is still facing vacancies, which he said he is prioritizing and working to fill. He said police departments nationally are struggling to fill vacancies, but he wants to fill GWPD’s with the “right people,” even if it delays the force coming to full strength.
In April 2024, former GWPD Chief James Tate said the department planned to fill three supervisor vacancies but cited a national trend of fewer applicants with less experience as reason for the hiring delay. Since then, the department turned over at least three senior leaders and faced several vacancies in its armed officer roles.
“Three things I cannot get wrong, hiring the right people, developing those individuals and then having accountability, starting with me,” Brito said.
Brito, who became GWPD chief July 16 after Tate resigned last October following The Hatchet’s reporting on former officers’ allegations of departmental gun safety violations, said the training and development of officers is “super important,” especially in relation to arming. He said as the new chief, he is reviewing all of the department’s policies and procedures, and has so far determined that the department has been “consistent” with conducting firearm trainings for armed officers at regular intervals.
Liu asked Brito whether he had plans to allow students or reporters to observe GWPD firearm trainings. Brito said he has “no trepidation whatsoever” about public viewings, but is unsure how the logistics of this access would work.
“I’d have to look at how we’d roll that out, and we can certainly look at that in future,” Brito said.
Following Tate’s resignation after six former officers’ allegations reported by The Hatchet that the department initially failed to register the top two officers’ guns and lacked rigorous firearm training to prepare officers to respond to major emergencies, like an active shooter, the University launched a third-party investigation into the arming rollout.
The investigation, which University President Ellen Granberg released findings from in March, determined that GW failed to adequately involve the community before moving to arm campus police officers because they anticipated strong pushback to the plan. The probe also uncovered lapses in GWPD’s firearm practices, confirming the allegations of delayed registration and that Tate violated department policies by storing a loaded weapon.
Brito said he would be willing to hold regular town halls to update the student body on GWPD’s actions and initiatives and provide answers to questions and concerns from community members.
“In days past, there was a circling of the wagons when it came to issues. You know, I don’t want that,” Brito said. “What I want is I want robust debate, I want participation and collaboration, and most important partnership, that’s really important.”
The Board of Trustees’ decision to arm officers was met by a wave of faculty and student dissent, including a May 2023 letter signed by 219 faculty members that called on the Board to reverse its decision, a petition against the plan signed by over 780 students in April 2023 and a march later that month of more than 150 students opposing the arming.
McDonald, who became the inaugural associate vice president for campus safety in March in response to the third-party arming investigation’s findings, said officials’ decision to terminate around-the-clock security guards in some upperclassmen residence halls this academic year was based on crime data and not budget cuts. She said upperclassmen residence halls close to areas with high foot traffic, like JBKO Hall, still maintain an “enhanced” security presence.
She said the University’s security philosophy has changed “dramatically” since the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that most campus buildings now require tap access to enter.
“When we looked at the data, it was fairly clear that there just were not a lot of incidents,” McDonald said. “We looked at before we had the security guards and when we had the security guards and looked at what that difference was, and so the decision was really based on risk and not on finances.”
McDonald said the University has not had any Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on campus and officials would require a judicial or criminal warrant to allow them on University property. The update comes over a month into President Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops and a slew of federal agencies to curb crime in the District.
She said the University issued guidance to security guards and staff who monitor front desks to call GWPD immediately if federal agents show up. She said the guidance also included information on how to distinguish which warrants from ICE they are obligated to comply with.
“The University would not participate in any immigration enforcement activities. That being said, we also have to follow the law,” McDonald said. “So there are some situational dependent things, but as a rule, the University policy is not to participate in immigration activities.”
McDonald said officials had seen advocacy efforts from community members asking GW to keep federal agents off campus and wanted to clarify that GWPD’s jurisdiction is limited to University-owned property. She said officials do not have control over sidewalks and public streets, so they cannot prevent federal agents or National Guard troops from entering campus.
SGA Senators voted to confirm George Cann-Gudat as co-chair of the Mental Health Assembly, Emma Lin as co-chair of the Dining Assembly, Abby Canalejo as a public member of the Ethics Committee, Ian Wright as the Director for Graduate Students and Mathew Reis as Secretary of the Senate.
SGA Senators voted 16‑5 against confirming senior Noah Shapiro as a public member of the Ethics Committee, with two abstentions.
SGA President Ethan Lynne said a new joint committee of faculty and students — which Faculty Senate Executive Committee Chair Katrin Schultheiss announced at Friday’s faculty Senate meeting — will discuss issues concerning the University, faculty and students. He said the committee, which will meet monthly, existed for decades before disbanding due to the pandemic, and will consist of seven administrators, seven faculty members and seven students.
The next SGA meeting will be held Sept. 29 at 7 p.m. in the University Student Center Grand Ballroom.
