Chief Brito’s First Months at GWPD Bring Progress Enhancing Safety

Not yet a full year into his tenureas chief of the George Washington University Police Department (GWPD), Victor Brito has overseen several changes with the goals of incorporating officers into the larger GW culture and continuing progress to enhance campus safety.

Prioritizing people

The individuals who serve on the GWPD are the foundation of the success of the force and drivers of how the role of a police officer intersects within the entire university community, Brito said.

"The ultimate enhancement is adding the right people to the GWPD," Brito said. "And I think we've done that very well to help keep our campus safe and resilient. We've worked very hard to bring the right people in with specific law enforcement credentials, not only in patrol operations, but in investigations. These are professionals with decades of experience who understand compassionate policing and know how to participate collaboratively with GW students, staff, faculty and our community."

During recruiting, Brito has taken part in the interview process to make sure he can assess "what people bring to the table," he said. Reading a résumé or a synopsis of a panel interview is no substitute, he added, for meeting with someone in person. It makes him better able to judge whether candidates possess key qualities he's looking for-compassion, empathy and understanding.

He has also involved members of other teams, beyond GWPD, in the interview process. People outside the police department have been consulted to give feedback on candidates. This practice dovetails with his overarching goal.

"Our police officers walk a beat engaging with our community," Brito said, adding that to help keep officers out of their cars, the department's bicycle unit has grown.

"We're part of this community, not apart from it. I want our officers to be engaged so that people run to us, not from us. I want them to know us as human beings and that we're here to help," Brito said.

Connecting with the community

Brito has attended biweekly meetings at the Multicultural Student Services Centerto discuss issues of importance to GW community members, and has been an active participant in meetings of the Campus Safety Advisory Committee. CSAC includes students, faculty, staff, and neighbor representatives and works to increase the GW community's awareness of and engagement on campus safety. Shortly after joining GW last summer, he also made a connection with Ethan Lynne, the president of the Student Government Association, seeking a better understanding of the student body and its issues.

"Working alongside Chief Brito has been one of the most rewarding experiences of this year," Lynne said. "He brings a fresh outlook to running GWPD and has consistently prioritized working with student leaders to increase the transparency and services of GWPD. I also appreciate how kind, caring and passionate he has remained throughout all of our meetings."

Brito said that Lynne "has been a stalwart and wonderful partner, sharing his perspective and contacting me regarding situations throughout the university, and also giving me ideas of where to go, who to meet and where I can make my presence and the presence of GWPD officers known.

"Policing is about creating relationships. And when you create relationships, you fundamentally change the dynamic in a community. You create a sense of well-being and safety. And people then feel comfortable coming to you. But that takes work, and it takes effort."

Advancing training and the arming process

In building relationships, one key has been keeping the community informed of important updates, recognizing GWPD has continued to evolve in recent months. The number of armed supervisors, who are required to undergo substantially more training and receive additional certifications than other local departments, recently increased, Brito said. As envisioned in the university's multi-phase arming process, up to 22 supervisory officers, or about a third of the force, will be armed when all vacancies are filled.

Training for these officers includes implicit bias, mental health response, firearms, de-escalation and response protocols. GW community members' feedback shaped these and many other requirements and policies during the arming process.

Continuous training opportunities remain a priority for the force. Many GWPD supervisors recently participated in a training to simulate how they would respond to an active shooter on campus.

Collaboration with partners and community

Beyond the campus community, Brito also has been working with the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) to find training opportunities for his officers. Events such as the recent Walk for Peace, in which 19 Buddhist monks spent more than 100 days on a trek from Texas that culminated in Washington, require such partnerships outside the university.

"The monks' walk was an international event," said Brito. "And they stayed here on campus. Securing the space where they and their volunteers spent the night, and making sure that they were able to come and go safely, highlights the GWPD-MPD partnership. We want to ensure a welcoming, safe environment for everyone."