Dear Students and Colleagues,

Over the last year, a nationally recognized safety consultancy has been conducting a staffing study of Temple University’s Department of Public Safety, and I write today to share the results. While the process took longer than originally anticipated, it was imperative that this study be thoughtful, comprehensive and informed by the university’s forthcoming strategic plan and campus development plan. This will allow us to ensure that public safety meets the university’s present and future needs as our campus and surrounding neighborhoods continue to evolve.

As part of its methodology, the external consultant, Healy+ and COSECURE, uses a proprietary tiered framework to assess the capacity and effectiveness of law enforcement agencies. According to their analysis, Temple is positioned below the middle tier of the framework, meaning the department is presently staffed to meet the essential public safety and emergency response needs of our community. However, additional personnel would allow the department to organize and coordinate its activities to focus on additional proactive and community engagement activities that would position it higher in the consultant’s framework. The report also notes that the department’s community engagement efforts are impressive.

The purpose of the analysis was to identify ways in which we can improve. While there is a strong foundation within the department under Vice President Jennifer Griffin, this study provides us with the blueprint for improving our safety operations for the future. A key to that will be increasing staffing within the department, acknowledging that there is a nationwide shortage of police officers.

Fortunately, the university has been resolute in its commitment of resources to public safety, with significant investments in technology and equipment, and a continuous effort to expand the contingent of officers, even during recent periods of budget constraint and contraction across the university. While the department has been authorized to hire additional officers, the universal challenges to recruitment and retention have been significant obstacles to progress.

Currently, the department has 77 sworn officers, including 50 patrol officers. Our immediate focus will be to add 29 patrol officers, one detective, six sergeants and one lieutenant, over the next five years, or sooner. This level of staffing would raise us to the second tier of the consultant’s framework and enable a more comprehensive array of public safety activities. Once we’ve reached that milestone, we will conduct a thorough re-evaluation of our capacity and needs to develop a path forward.

This effort to increase staffing will take collaboration and focus, and we will work in partnership with the Temple University Police Association to achieve these ambitious goals. We have re-engaged former commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department Charles Ramsey and his firm, 21CP Solutions, to support us as we implement a phased, multi-year staffing plan. We must, and we will, deploy ever more compelling and creative incentives to make Temple’s Department of Public Safety a destination employer for law enforcement in our region.

In a demonstration of true partnership, I am pleased to report that Commissioner Kevin Bethel has pledged to provide six bike patrol officers and a sergeant from the Philadelphia Police Department to partner with us and be fully embedded with Temple’s police beginning on Jan. 5, 2026. I am deeply grateful to Mayor Cherelle Parker and Commissioner Bethel for the Philadelphia Police Department’s ongoing support of the university.

Over the next several months we will be exploring new strategies for recruitment and retention within the Department of Public Safety. I look forward to sharing updates with you as we work to ensure that we are fully staffed to continue to meet the evolving safety needs of our university.

I invite you to learn more in this Temple Now piece.

Sincerely,

John Fry
President