The Department of Campus Safety at Trinity College is charged with coordinating and implementing safety measures that protect all students, faculty, and staff on campus in order to foster a secure and orderly community. The department’s responsibilities include enforcing Trinity’s alcohol policy per state law, as well as enforcing the prohibition of weapons, sexual misconduct, and drug use and possession. The Campus Safety Department consists of Campus Safety Officers, a Captain, Sergeants, Dispatchers, and administrative staff, and reports to the Dean of Campus Life and Vice President for Student Affairs. Campus Safety also has an ongoing professional relationship with the Hartford Police Department, with which campus officers routinely communicate regarding incidents on campus whenever necessary.

In the early days of Trinity, when it was still called Washington College, offenses committed by students were punished at the discretion of the faculty, rather than a separate group specifically devoted to enforcing the regulations of the college. Faculty were charged with the responsibility to implement the “punishments of the College” as outlined in the “Laws of Washington College” (1826); among these were “Expulsion, Dismission, Rustication, Suspension, publick and private Admonition, and Fines.” This disciplinary structure was later overseen by the Dean of the College in the 1930s and 1940s, and most regulations in the student handbooks during this span of time were concerned with class and chapel service attendance. By the 1950s, a campus police department had been established, responding to growing reports of theft on campus and in the Hartford area through the 1960s. It was also during the 1960s that the College appointed Alfred Garofolo as head of the campus police force and began to ramp up its investment in campus security, adding new patrol cars, additional campus guards, and more strictly enforced vehicle regulations on campus.

Today, Campus Safety officers continue to handle everything from theft and underage drinking to helping students who are locked out of their room. In addition, they provide a campus shuttle bus and security escorts by request. Officers may often be seen around campus wearing neon green vests or jackets and may be reached via phone at any time.

Campus Safety

Trinity College Student Handbook: Health and Safety Policies, p. 60.

Trinity College School Security Protocol Plan, 2019.

Trinity Tripod, 02/03/1981.

Trinity Tripod, 10/11/1966.

Trinity Tripod, 01/11/1966.

Trinity Tripod, 10/22/1958.

Student’s Handbook, 1941-42, 1941.

Laws of Washington College, 1826.