UCFPD Believes in Transparency.
The UCF Police Department is here to keep our community safe, and we believe in the power of transparency as we protect and serve. We want the public to understand who we are, what our policies are and why they exist, and how UCF police officers train and prepare for emergency situations.
UCF Police Training
Fair and Impartial Policing
We invite members of the UCF community to participate alongside our officers in training about recognizing bias and acting with fairness in all interactions.
Wells’ Built Museum Partnership
With an agency focus on community policing and a UCFPD presence at UCF Downtown, agency leadership decided that all UCFPD officers should understand the history of the Parramore neighborhood. This led to a partnership with the Wells’ Built Museum of African American History & Culture, which has provided tours to all sworn UCFPD officers.
Safe Zone
Officers and civilians have completed Safe Zone training, a program for UCF students, staff and faculty members interested in showing visual support LGBTQ persons at the university.
UCF Police Policies
The UCF Police Department is grounded in its policies, which direct officers and staff on how they are expected to conduct themselves while representing themselves as UCF Police employees. These policies are extremely detailed and outline what’s expected, along with the consequences if the policy is not followed.
Use of Force
There are certain situations that may require officers to use force. These policies are extremely strict, and all use-of-force scenarios are reviewed by peers and UCFPD leadership. This policy clearly states that it is imperative to value and preserve human life, and use of force may only be used until the incident is under control. UCFPD officers do not carry rubber bullets or tear gas, and our policy does not allow neck restraints. Explore UCFPD’s Use of Force data for the past four years compared to the total number of arrests.
View the Response to Resistance Policy
Protests
UCFPD is committed to protecting individuals’ rights to peacefully assemble and protest, and we are out there to keep our community safe. The UCF Police Department’s Emergency Response Team — a specialty group of officers trained in crowd management — may be deployed to support outside agencies or support large events on campus.
View the Protests and Demonstrations Policy
Body Cameras
The UCF Police Department was one of the first agencies in Central Florida to implement the use of body cameras. Now, UCFPD has upgraded body cameras to activate when officers turn on the lights on their vehicle or remove a gun or taser from their holster, removing the element of human error in a quickly evolving situation. After receiving feedback from student groups at UCF, UCFPD updated officers’ body work cameras to begin buffering 60 seconds before being activated, instead of 30 seconds.
View the Body Work Cameras Policy
Emergency Response Team
UCFPD’s Emergency Response Team is a group of officers who are specially trained in de-escalation and crowd management. These officers are often deployed for large events on campus, or to support other agencies when large gatherings are expected.
View the Emergency Response Team Policy
Bias-based Profiling
Racial and ethnic profiling is unacceptable, especially in law enforcement. The UCF Police Department is charged with protecting the constitutional rights of all citizens within the university community, regardless of race, color, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, physical disability, religion, age, cultural group, economic status or other belief system.
View the Bias-Free Policing Policy
Duty to Intervene
UCFPD’s Response to Resistance policy calls for officers to treat everyone fairly and humanely, and our Duty to Intervene policy was recently updated to expand on those principles. UCFPD is committed to doing the right thing, and we expect our officers to speak up when they believe a colleague is acting inappropriately.
Get Involved
COMMUNITY OUTREACH CENTER
UCFPD opened a Community Outreach Center in the Student Union in 2019. Officers from the Community Partnerships Unit met with campus partners ahead of the opening to explain what the purpose of the space was for: To keep the Union safe and allow our community to meet and engage with officers. This space is regularly used for walk in questions and for group training with officers about community engagement and partnerships.
CHIEF’S ADVISORY COUNCIL
The Chief’s Advisory Council includes student, faculty and staff representatives from across UCF who have expressed interest in Public Safety operations or have some other sort of intersection point with what we do. Our goal is to bring together a group that represents our diverse, dynamic community and that will address issues related to the well-being of our campuses and their citizens. Chief’s Advisory Council meetings are a place for frank, candid discussions that help move UCFPD and our relationship with the community forward through relationship-building and open lines of communication among trusted members.
To express interest in joining the Chief’s Advisory Council, email Courtney.gilmartin@ucf.edu.
Accreditation
UCF PD is an accredited, full-service law enforcement agency that currently employs about 80 sworn officers who provide police services on the main and regional campuses, as well as several university-affiliated housing communities.