The following message was emailed to the campus community from the Office of Public Safety March 5, 2026 – Ed.
Dear William & Mary Community,
At William & Mary, the Division of Public Safety includes the W&M Police Department, Emergency Management and Risk Management. As you well know, we have an amazing team of professionals committed to your safety and the common good, all rooted in the values of service, integrity and respect.
As an alumnus, I am pleased to be back at William & Mary applying my experience in federal law enforcement to our university’s ongoing commitment to a secure and safe campus.
Given this commitment, I want to update you on the work being done to build our capacities across three broad categories: talent, modernization and resources.
Talent: We are working diligently on career development, operational redundancy and enhanced oversight while building a program to retain and recruit the best team. That includes additional investments in education and outreach, campus security officers and intelligence analysis – to support our fully accredited police department.
Modernization: We are investing in renovated facilities along with modern equipment and training for the Public Safety team.
- Operations & Watch Center. Construction will commence soon on an Emergency Operations & Watch Center (EOWC) that will be housed in a vacated space in Small Hall. The EOWC will act as the “nerve center” of campus for Public Safety, supporting daily operations, situational awareness, special events and critical incidents.
- Police Vehicles and Equipment. Work has begun to replace the aging police vehicle fleet and upgrade equipment to enhance response and readiness.
- Software Tools. Investment in modern Emergency Management, Risk Management and threat assessment tools to enhance preparedness and streamline processes.
Resources: We are making informed investments in appropriate, effective tools to protect the William & Mary community. We want to emphasize that your privacy is vital to us and a key factor in what we choose to utilize. None of these technologies store personally identifiable information, nor do they support facial recognition.
- Mobile Gates. Athletics and other major events on campus now employ walk-through weapons detection gates to keep attendees safe.
- License Plate Readers. Readers are used only in public areas to deter and solve crime – particularly by perpetrators from outside the campus community.
- Firearm Detection. AI-powered technology that uses our existing camera infrastructure to rapidly detect brandished firearms (and only firearms) while quickly notifying WMPD dispatch.
- Personal Safety Apps. We continue to support and update mobile applications, such as Rave Guardian, that feature virtual escort and confidential reporting capabilities.
- Travel Safety. Students, faculty and staff traveling abroad on university business will soon have access to a service that provides timely situational awareness alerts.
My team is working on a website that will launch later this semester to provide additional details on each of these resources. Also, don’t hesitate to reach out to W&M Public Safety if you have questions or would like to discuss any of these topics further.
Above all, in a community as close-knit as ours, public safety is a shared responsibility. Always remember, if you see something, please say something.
Know that in all of these efforts, we affirm the university’s core values, our strong sense of community and William & Mary’s mission as a preeminent, public research university.
Thank you,
Cliff Everton ’96
Associate Vice President
