 |
|
3/24/2026
|
Rep. O’Brien’s bill to arm public college police officers to be heard by Judiciary Committee today
|
STATE HOUSE – Rep. William W. O’Brien’s legislation to arm public college police officers will be heard by the House Judiciary Committee today. Representative O’Brien notes that the legislation has become more important after the devastating tragedy at Brown University and after reviewing a Rhode Island State Police assessment of an armed assailant response at the Community College of Rhode Island last year.
“The unthinkable has come to Rhode Island and this horrific incident at Brown should serve as a wake-up call to our public colleges who refuse to arm their campus police officers. The State Police report about the incident at CCRI makes it clear that to protect students, faculty and staff, police officers at CCRI and RIC must be properly equipped and armed to deal with potentially life-threatening situations. The sad reality is that the campuses of CCRI and RIC are not prepared for these types of incidents and attacks due to their presidents’ refusal to arm their campus police,” said Representative O’Brien (D-Dist. 54, North Providence).
The report states that “the CCRI Police Department currently operates without issued firearms or Conducted Energy Weapons (Tasers), significantly limiting officers’ ability to respond directly to active threat situations. As a result, CCRI remains dependent on external law enforcement agencies for immediate threat neutralization.” It further references CCRI’s Active Shooter Response Policy that recommends officers “locate, without confronting, the active shooter. Distract shooter from innocent victims if feasible and consider your available weapons and their ability to engage the shooter. This is an individual choice.”
“Directing campus police officers not to confront active shooters, and only to engage if they choose to do so, is an unacceptable policy that puts innocent people in continued peril. Opponents of this bill say that arming campus police, who have all graduated from the municipal police academy, will make the campus more dangerous. This is a delusional idea that has no basis in fact or study. What truly makes a campus more unsafe is not equipping trained and qualified police officers to confront an active shooter to prevent further bloodshed and loss of life,” said Representative O’Brien.
The report also recommends that CCRI equip sworn CCRI police officers with firearms or TASERs, and that CCRI issue personal ballistic protection (vests) to all sworn officers to be worn while on duty.
For the past several legislation sessions, Representative O’Brien has introduced bills to both equip public university and college police officers with firearms and to issue ballistic vests to campus police officers.
“This report from the State Police speaks for itself, and the recommendations it makes to ensure campus safety are the exact same things I have been advocating for up at the State House. We cannot afford to wait any longer to make the necessary changes to keep our state campuses safe. We live in chaotic and uncertain times, and we must equip our campus police officers with the proper tools they need to protect the public,” concluded Representative O’Brien.
Representative O’Brien notes that CCRI and Rhode Island College remain outliers in the region, with each school having the only campus police officers in New England without firearms or Tasers.
For more information, contact:
Andrew Caruolo, Publicist
State House Room 20
Providence, RI 02903
(401)222-6124
|
|