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Higher Education Safety Training

Campus/Higher Education
The Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety supports institutions of higher education through training, with resources and technical assistance, and by guiding best practices. Virginia houses an array of higher education institutions, including public and private 4-year universities, 2-year colleges, community colleges, and others. Each institution faces unique challenges and hot button issues, including campus sexual assault, dating violence, stalking, threat assessment, and others. The VCSCS also works within directives from the Virginia General Assembly to conduct studies, such as the Final Report on Potential Minimum Core Operational Functions for Campus Police and Security Departments and the forthcoming Campus Threat Assessment Study to inform the General Assembly and guide best practices in higher education.
Key Initiatives

The Critical Incident Preparedness and Response team has developed a series of on demand and in person training options. To learn more about these programs and associated legislation within The Code of Virginia, click here.

The 2023 General Assembly directed the Secretary of Education and Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security shall convene a task force (the task force) to determine best practices and develop model policies and procedures for all threat assessment teams at public institutions of higher education. The task force considered and made legislative recommendations on the appropriate qualifications of members of such threat assessment teams. The task force included representatives from the Office of the Attorney General, campus police departments and local law enforcement, attorneys for the Commonwealth, mental health and student affairs professionals, university counsel, human resources representatives, one student representative, and one faculty representative.

RD284 - Report on Best Practices, Model Policies and Procedures, and Legislative Recommendations for Campus Threat Assessment Teams – January 16, 2024

Executive Summary:
Report on the findings and recommendations of the task force convened to determine best practices and develop model policies and procedures for all threat assessment teams at public institutions of higher education, and to consider and make legislative recommendations on the appropriate qualifications of members of such threat assessment teams.  

On April 19, 2024 the U.S. Department of Education Released Final Title IX Regulations.

The full final regulations are available here. In addition, the Department has released an overview and list of key provisions of the final regulations, and a resource for drafting Title IX nondiscrimination policies, notices of nondiscrimination, and grievance procedures.

The final regulations are effective on August 1, 2024, and apply to complaints of sex discrimination regarding alleged conduct that occurs on or after that date. The Department is committed to supporting schools in implementing the final regulations and will provide technical assistance and additional resources to schools to support implementation and compliance. 

The 2004 General Assembly, through House Joint Resolution (HJR122), requested the Virginia State Crime Commission to study safety at Virginia's institutions of higher education. As a result, DCJS created the Office of Campus Policing and Security (OCPS) to address the law requiring minimum training and employment standards for campus security officers. Through Legislative Code § 9.1-102 (Powers and duties of the Board and the Department), DCJS was required to establish minimum standards for employment, job-entry and in-service training curricula, and certification requirements for campus security officers. Learn more here.

 

VCSCS offers a variety of resources which can be accessed here.

 

 

Higher Education Staff Contact

Marc Dawkins, Law Enforcement and Public Safety Training Manager 
804.380.9709
Email Marc