University of California, Davis, Chancellor Gary S. May today (June 11) announced the formation of a Next Generation Reforms to Advance Campus Safety Task Force to discuss and assess how the university’s Police Department should evolve to look, operate and engage on both the Davis and Sacramento campuses.

“As law enforcement departments across the country are scrutinized — and justly so — for how they respond to and interact with others, I’m calling on our community to come together and examine what we can do to improve our community policing,” Chancellor May said in his charge letter.

Renetta Tull, vice chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and Kevin Johnson, dean of the School of Law, will serve as co-chairs.

May said the task force will be made up of students, faculty and staff. He called on the group to hear from diverse viewpoints and “seek out members of our community who represent the most critical views of policing, as well as those who have positive associations. We must hear from people with a variety of opinions to develop common ground on which to build.”

While May recognized the progress the UC Davis Police Department has made over the last six years, he asked that the task force consider a variety of questions about how campus safety could be best achieved in a new era. He suggested the task force consider what values, philosophies and practices could be established to form a stronger foundation to campus safety.

May asked the task force to deliver recommendations to him by Dec. 15.

The charge letter can be found here.