Crime Prevention Information / Campus Safety

Welcome to PLU

Pacific Lutheran University is a community of over four thousand people working and studying (1600 of them residing) within the borders of a 135-acre campus. While the campus is a relatively safe place to be, it is subject to many of the same crime problems that occur in the surrounding metropolitan area. This information is provided to assist you in making decisions and developing habits that will significantly reduce the possibility of you being a victim of crime, whether here at PLU or in the surrounding community.

See PLU's planned response to emergencies here.

Campus Safety Office

The Campus Safety and Information office is located on the north side of Harstad Hall, which is at the intersection of Park Avenue and Garfield St. (the eastern entrance to campus). The office is staffed 24 hours a day, year round. Campus Safety Officers provide the following services:

First Aid and CPR
Grounds and Parking Lot security patrol
After hours building admits
Emergency message service
Coordination of Police, Fire, and Emergency Medical Response
Jump starts for registered vehicles

NOTE: While the laws of the State of Washington grant private landowners broad authority in controlling their grounds, Campus Safety and Information is not a police agency. As a private institution in the state of Washington, PLU may not maintain a police force. Therefore, Campus Safety is an in-house security organization oriented towards crime prevention and physical security. The department is staffed with a combination of unarmed, non-commissioned, full-time security professionals and part-time student personnel. Campus Safety officers and administrators do not have arrest authority. Responsibility for law enforcement response, investigation, and police reporting on campus lies with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department. Campus Safety contracts with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department to provide our Director, a PCSD Sergeant, and access to all the Sheriff's resources. On most nights during the school year, off-duty Deputies work with Campus Safety as employees of the university. Even though these Deputies work for the university, they maintain all their authority as commissioned law enforcement officers. This arrangement allows the university nearly instant response from a law enforcement official when circumstances require. PLU also tracks its own crime data, assists in any investigations, reports criminal incidents to the Sheriff’s Department, and actively assists persons reporting crimes in making contact with the Sheriff’s Department.