Mission Statement
To serve our community by building relationships, reducing fear, and solving problems – treating every person with the fairness, respect, and care we would want for ourselves and approaching every interaction as an opportunity to make a positive difference.
Fair and Impartial Policing
UW Oshkosh police officers shall not consider race, color, ethnicity, national origin, economic status, sexual orientation, gender expression, age, or religion in carrying out law enforcement activities except when locally relevant information links a person or people of certain characteristics/status, as listed above, to a specific unlawful incident, or to specific unlawful incidents, criminal patterns, or schemes.
Bias based profiling by our police members is prohibited and is defined as the following: police initiated action that relies upon common traits associated with belonging to certain groups; such as race, color, ethnicity, national origin, economic status, sexual orientation, gender expression, age, religion, disability, political affiliation, cultural group or any other identifiable characteristic of an individual rather than the behavior of the individual, or information that leads police to a particular individual who has been identified as being engaged in or having been engaged in criminal activity. Police Officers may use common traits as listed above in selecting whom to stop, when a person matches the specific description of an individual who is suspected in being involved in criminal activity.
Outside Government Agencies
Universities of Wisconsin issued this guidance on Agents Visiting Universities.
- Agents may enter public areas. Agents must have a valid judicial search warrant to enter non-public areas. Employees cannot provide consent for entry into non-public areas.
- Public areas may include reception areas, waiting rooms, lobbies; open dining areas such as cafeterias; restrooms; and other common areas accessible by members of the public without screening or escort.
- Non-public areas include private offices and laboratories; locked or restricted areas; private residential rooms; residence hall areas restricted to residents; classrooms and lecture halls that are currently in use; and other secured or restricted-access areas designated for instructional or research use.
- A valid warrant must be signed and dated by a judge. It will include a period within which the search must be conducted, a description of the premises to be searched, and a list of items authorized to be searched for or seized.
- If agents take action, with or without awaiting guidance from you or others on campus and regardless of whether they have presented a warrant, do not intervene or block their movement. Obstructing or otherwise interfering with law enforcement activity may be a crime.
- Notify the UW Oshkosh Police Department as soon as practical.
Operations
The UW Oshkosh Police Department’s trained and educated professional police officers patrol the UW Oshkosh campus to protect our community. They patrol on foot, on bicycle and in marked and unmarked police vehicles. Sergeants, Officers and Community Service Officers are assigned a geographic area to which they are responsible for building relationships with community members, identifying trends, developing proactive policing strategies and responding to the needs within their areas.
Duties of the police officers include responding to calls for service, patrolling campus, completing building and property checks, conducting criminal investigations, assisting local law enforcement, presenting safety information to our campus community and attending events held on campus. Officers enforce all State of Wisconsin laws and administrative rules of the University of Wisconsin System.
Through a partnership with the Department of Residence Life, the UW Oshkosh Police Department operates the Community Service Officer (CSO) program, which trains student employees who assist in maintaining campus safety. The CSOs work in a variety of different roles to include; patrol, security stations at residence halls, driving for UWO Go, event security and much more.
