PSU rearming campus police after committing to unarmed patrols

By Soyoung Kim

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    PORTLAND, Oregon (KPTV) — There’s mixed reaction from the community after Portland State University’s announced that they’re rearming campus police.

The decision to disarm campus officers came after years of protest that really picked up after the death of Jason Washington at the hands of PSU police.

FOX 12 spoke with Jason’s family and community members and many said they’re surprised by this change in direction. Andre Washington said he remembers a time when he was a student at Portland State University. Andre is also the brother of Jason Washington — a man who was shot and killed by PSU police in 2018.

“It brings up traumatic memories,” Andre Washington, Jason Washington’s Brother, said.

Jason’s death had re-energized protests calling to disarm PSU campus police. And the university eventually did in 2020.

“Three years ago, I promised our community that we’ll be patrolling unarmed. We have done that,” Willie Halliburton, PSU Chief of Campus Security, said.

But now, the school announced they’re bringing back armed officers.

“Recently, our officers have encountered individuals on campus with weapons. This has made me make the hard decision to have more armed patrols on campus,” Halliburton said.

Jason’s family said they don’t agree with this decision.

“There’s a memorial and a scholarship in the name of Jason Washington, I don’t know what that looks like when you have officers walking by with guns,” Andre Washington said.

Students said they’d like to hear more about what led to this latest change.

“I’m interested in how the decision is made and what changes they made to security that makes them feel like it’s appropriate to arm them again,” Jonas Bassett, a student, said.

Other community members said they think armed patrols might help in some extreme situations.

“With the school shootings and people out here should definitely feel safe with the police being armed,” Jesus Torres, a community member, said.

But Jason’s family said they’re speaking out as a word of caution.

“We’re hoping this doesn’t happen to somebody. We’re hoping this incident does not repeat itself,” Andre Washington said.

PSU said they have nine armed patrols officers, seven public safety officers, and eight campus ambassadors.

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