Violence Reduction & University Efforts

In January 2022, Temple announced two important initiatives to examine and identify critical opportunities to improve safety:

1)  Safety Audit: The university will partner with former commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department, Charles H. Ramsey, to audit all of Temple’s current campus safety services. Ramsey’s tenure as commissioner, from January 2008 to January 2016, saw the city’s homicide rate drop 37% while violent crime decreased 31%. Ramsey previously co-chaired President Barack Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing (published in 2015).

2) The Task Force on Violence Reduction Strategies, led by Valerie Harrison, vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion, and Gregory Mandel, provost and Laura H. Carnell Professor of Law, brought together a Steering Committee of representatives from our campuses, including students, parents, faculty, staff, neighbors and area businesspersons, to review the university’s existing violence reduction efforts and consider other innovative violence reduction initiatives. It is one of many efforts designed to help elevate Temple’s anti-violence research and programs and to devise new solutions to help address Philadelphia’s gun violence epidemic.