April 21, 2021

Message to CSU students, faculty and staff from CSUP regarding the Chauvin trial jury verdict (please see further below for update regarding CSUPD work related to transparency and addressing implicit bias in policing):

Dear CSU Community,

We were all devastated by the tragic death of George Floyd last summer and closely attended to the trial of Derek Chauvin. Yesterday’s historic verdict affirms CSUPD’s previous public statement that the actions of the officers leading up to the death of Mr. Floyd, by all accounts, are shameful and wrong, and are contrary to the values and mission that all police officers must constantly strive to uphold as we protect and serve our communities.

We know we must work every day to maintain the trust of our community. It is not a charge we take lightly. Yesterday’s verdict offers an historic moment for us to reaffirm our commitment to serve, respect, and connect with all the members of the CSU community.

Sincerely,

Colorado State University Police Department

 

Update regarding CSUPD work related to transparency and addressing implicit bias in policing

Last year CSUPD started a long journey of assessing every aspect of our department, examining our policies and procedures, our trainings, the type of police officers we recruit to our force, and how our department interacts and shares information both within the department and with our university and community partners.

With this work, CSUPD is intentionally committing to frequent and regular review of both our operations and our philosophical approach to policing.

CSUPD is mindfully engaging with our community as “guardians,” not approaching situations as a “got you” opportunity to write a ticket or make an arrest. As guardians of our community, we look first as we respond to each call for how we can help others with a health or safety concern.  

CSUPD is also renewing our commitment to transparency, which will soon include a page on our website outlining our practices, as well as intentional collaboration across the university.

We recognize that not all members of our community have positive interactions with police locally and across the nation; we are striving to change those experiences. We are bringing our community members into conversations and processes that impact them, including:

• Redefining and strengthening our relationship and engagement with University Housing and the students who live on campus
• Including representatives from ASCSU in our hiring and job promotion processes
• Continue to train our entire force on implicit bias and racism and how they impact our every-day interactions and, starting this year, expanding that training to include the expertise of the CSU Vice President for Diversity Office
• Gathering and evaluating data about our interactions with the community to better understand our opportunities for change and impact. This includes collecting data sets consistent with Colorado reform legislation passed last summer. This legislation requires body cameras and enhanced reporting by police agencies and sets new standards for police behavior. Read the full text at Senate Bill 20-217
• Launching a co-responder program that pairs a mental health professional with officers when responding to calls that indicate a mental health need. This is funded by the university and represents a partnership with UCHealth, the CSU Health Network and several other CSU partners

We know there is much work to be done. We will continue to do that hard and necessary work to serve and connect with our CSU community.

Sincerely,

Wendy Rich-Goldschmidt
Interim Executive Director of Campus Safety and Security