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Campus and Community Safety

A Message from Vice-Chancellor Charles Nies

A comprehensive approach to campus safety is evident at UC Merced. The collective work over the past year continues to reinforce that commitment while surfacing gaps in our efforts. The campus conversations with various stakeholders the range of understanding on how we define what it means to be safe, what it means to share responsibility for campus safety, and the breadth of lived experiences around systems that are meant to help us feel safe. With broad campus input, we have moved beyond dialogue and started the important work of planning and implementing a reimagined campus safety infrastructure. The work will be ongoing as we continue to define, implement, and assess our collective efforts to create a culture that allows everyone to thrive as we live, work, play and work at UC Merced.

 

UC COMMUNITY PLAN

In August 2021, University of California President Dr. Micheal V. Drake, issued a systemwide Presidential Campus Safety Plan to enhance public safety at all UC campuses and locations. It was developed with extensive input from Chancellors, systemwide safety symposia, and public comment sessions over the last year. The plan specifies that their is no higher priority for the University than the safety and security of students, faculty, staff, patients, and visitors. With that objective, the plan proposes specific enhancements to policing and public safety for all UC locations.  Visit UC UCOP WEBPAGE  

 

 

4 Guidelines that Inform Campus Planning

Community and Service-Driven Safety​

Campus safety policies and practices must reflect the needs and values of our diverse community and be in service to them. This fundamental idea is reflected throughout the plan.​
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 A Holistic, Inclusive and Tiered Response Model for Safety Services​

Safety will be defined in its broadest terms, and include mental health, wellness, basic needs and bias/hate response as well as other services. Multidisciplinary teams will triage behavioral health crises, conduct wellness checks and safely connect individuals to coordinated care, including health and social support resources.​

Transparency and Continuous Improvement Through Data 

Campuses will collect and publicly share uniform campus safety data on a UC-wide dashboard to empower the UC community and inform change. 

Accountability and Independent Oversight 

Independent police accountability boards, comprised of a broad cross-section of the UC community, will provide a robust complaint and investigation process to ensure that officers are acting consistently with rules, policies and the law.