The Tennessee Board of Regents has selected the University of Memphis’ chief of police to co-chair its task force on safety and security at public universities and colleges.
Bruce Harber, assistant vice president for administration and the chief of police at the University of Memphis, is one of three co-chairs selected to be on the task force.
“High profile incidents at colleges and schools around the country, while rare, still make us think about safety and security at our institutions and encourage us to be proactive in planning,” David Gregory, acting TBR chancellor, said in a press release issued by the TBR. “Our campuses are safe, but we always want to ask ourselves how we can make them more secure for our students, faculty and staff. We have assembled a strong team of people to do that.”
The task force will include representation from each of the three types of postsecondary institutions headed by the TBR, including community colleges, technical colleges and universities— like the U of M.
The goal of the campus safety task force is to prevent incidents on campuses rather than having to react to an incident, according to TBR officials.
Members of the task force will study the schools that are a part of the TBR, as well as other schools, and report its findings by the September board meeting.
Before joining the U of M in January 2000, Harber achieved the rank of major and police academy commander during his 25 years as an officer with the Memphis Police Department.
Harber has served as a certified police officer since 1976, and he holds a bachelor’s degree in Police Administration and a master’s degree in Strategic Leadership, both of which he earned at the U of M. He is a 1997 graduate of the FBI’s National Academy and has taught as an adjunct professor.
“I think my serving on the task force will directly benefit us at the University of Memphis,” Harber said. “For instance, I will be able to bring back the best practices to the U of M. While our campus has had the lowest reported crime rate of the ten large, Tennessee universities for the past two years and for five of the past seven years, we continually assess ourselves to determine what else we can do to enhance the security of our campus and the safety of our students, faculty, staff and visitors."
The TBR Campus Safety and Security Task Force met for the first time Friday, March 4, in Nashville to begin its work, in which it will evaluate the best security practices from college campuses around the country, review current practices and resources, identify areas of greatest needs for support and make recommendations for realistic opportunities for improvement, all before the September board meeting.
