After 25 Years in the Alexandria Police, Georgetown’s New Police Chief Has One Main Goal

On a cloudy afternoon in January, Courtney Ballantine sits in the chief of police's office at the Georgetown University Police Department (GUPD). A poster from a Dave Matthews Band concert leans on the windowsill; a sign from his volunteer days as a firefighter and EMT hangs opposite.

Ballantine arrived in August 2025 as deputy chief of GUPD at the Hilltop. Five months later, he became the new police chief.

"My whole career, you go up the ranks, you get training, you attend the FBI National Academy, all preparing to be the next chief. Now I'm going to be the next chief of police for Georgetown University," he said. "It is such an amazing feeling."

Ballantine was hired after serving for 25 years with the Alexandria Police Department, where he weathered Sept. 11 and COVID-19 and implemented mental health support and training for officers. He later graduated from the FBI National Academy, a competitive law enforcement training program, before joining Georgetown.

On Jan. 22, Josh Bornstein, vice president for public safety, announced the promotion of Ballantine and the merging of the Georgetown University Police Department (GUPD) on the Hilltop Campus and the Capitol Campus Department of Public Safety (CCDPS) under one unified GUPD beginning Feb. 2.

Over 25 years with the Alexandria Police Department, Ballantine served as a sergeant, lieutenant, public information officer and ultimately, captain.

"I am thrilled to appoint Courtney Ballantine as the first chief of police for the combined GUPD," Bornstein said. "After a national search and in close consultation with students, faculty and staff, we are pleased to have Courtney take the helm of the new unified GUPD. With his extensive experience in law enforcement, community engagement and leadership, he is the exact right person for this role."

In his new role, Ballantine will oversee the police forces on the Capitol and Hilltop campuses. He'll split his time between the two campuses. Ultimately, he has one goal.

"I've gone to orientation for college twice for my own children, and it's a big deal to leave your child behind at a college," he said. "So my goal and the department's goal is to support the whole person. We might not academically support them, but we're going to provide a safe environment so that they can be successful."

A Teenage Calling to the Squad Car

On paper, Ballantine has had a straightforward path to police chief.

At age 15, he began riding in squad cars with his local police department. He worked in a pharmacy in his hometown of Enfield, Connecticut, where he struck up a friendship with the police chief, who invited him to ridealongs with the force.

"We would go to calls, car accidents. It wasn't anything gruesome, but I was listening to the radio, talking to this guy. It was mentoring. It was more an atmosphere of helping people than anything," he said.

That ethos - helping people through law enforcement - stuck with him.

Ballantine studied criminal justice at Radford University in Virginia, where he also volunteered as a firefighter for the Radford Fire Department and worked on the student-run rescue squad as an EMT. Years later, those squad experiences and friendships would influence his decision to work at Georgetown.

"What brought it home for me was GERMS," he said of Georgetown's student-run emergency response medical service. "That's where I got my beginning in public safety. The fact that there's an on-campus rescue squad opportunity here and I could help people in the same place where I got help … it's full circle for me."

Since assuming his role, Ballantine has begun meeting with student leaders from GERMS to find ways to support them, in the same way he received support from his college squad's advisors.

After graduating from Radford, Ballantine wanted to pursue a career in criminal justice - but he didn't let up on working as an EMT just yet.

Improving Mental Health In and Out of the Station

In 2000, Ballantine began working nights as an officer with the Alexandria Police Department in Virginia and days for the Sterling Volunteer Rescue Squad in Northern Virginia. Over the next 25 years, he was steadily promoted to sergeant, lieutenant, public information officer and ultimately, captain.

"I was always told I was a better supervisor than I was an officer. I took that as a positive," he said. "Yeah, I can arrest people, but I would rather help people be good in their lives. So being a supervisor and commander, helping people do what they like to do, that was my calling."

His proudest achievement there was starting the Crisis Intervention Team(CIT), which offers police officers specialized training in mental health disorders, verbal de-escalation techniques and substance abuse issues. As the police chief at Georgetown, he's sending GUPD officers to the training too.

"I want people to understand that everybody's human," he said. "People don't wake up in the morning and say, 'I want a mental health issue.' I try hard through those CIT trainings to make people understand that you're not dealing with somebody, you're helping somebody. You've got to make sure you stay focused on [the fact that] they are a person and not just somebody on the side of the road."

Ballantine also started a peer support group for officers and a co-response program that pairs police officers with behavioral health specialists in responding to certain calls.

Toward the end of his tenure, Ballantine attended the FBI National Academy, an experience that opened his eyes to different career possibilities, he said. Suddenly, a role as chief of police seemed in reach.

He finished his master's in public safety from the University of Virginia, which also encouraged him to "think bigger."

A New Start But the Same Goal at Georgetown

Ballantine joined Georgetown in August 2025.

Ballantine was drawn to the deputy chief role at Georgetown in 2025. He thought he'd get the lay of the land and work his way up to chief of police. Life surprised him.

As chief, Ballantine said he's focused on community engagement, transparency and his number one goal: helping people.

"I want our police officers to be approachable, engaging, helpful. We're humans too," he said. "There's nobody in this department who wants anything other than for [students] to be successful, and we're going to do that. We're on their side."