Security Operations  
Department of Public Safety

The Department of Public Safety is located in:

• Rowland Hall on our Philadelphia, Pennsylvania campus (PCOM).
• The front desk at our Suwanee, Georgia campus (PCOM Georgia).
• The front desk at our Moultrie, Georgia location (PCOM South Georgia).

The Director of Public Safety is responsible for departmental administration and reports directly to the Chief Occupational and Environmental Safety Officer.

PCOM and PCOM Georgia each maintain a complement of in-house security personnel in conjunction with trained contract security personnel. PCOM South Georgia is staffed by trained contract security personnel.

Contract supervisors and officers are required to receive instruction, approved by the Director of Public Safety, in the areas of legal authority, liability issues, fire prevention and control, evacuation procedures, investigation and departmental procedures prior to their assignment to campus.

Security patrol rounds are made around our campuses multiple times each day and logs/records are kept within each building.

Security personnel do not have arrest powers, but consult with police authorities when arrests are warranted. The Department of Public Safety works with local law enforcement authorities to gather information on criminal activity and to assess potential risks that may exist on or near each campus. Perpetrators are reported accordingly.

Criminal activities and emergency situations are to be reported to the Department of Public Safety when they are observed. Criminal activities will be investigated, and local law enforcement authorities will be notified as necessary. 

Department of Public Safety personnel are not permitted to carry lethal or nonlethal weapons while on duty. Only appropriate government law officers are permitted to enter the campus armed.

All students and employees are issued an identification badge, which they are required to wear at all times.

Visitors and out-patients are required to sign in at all times on Saturdays and Sundays and at specific locations between the hours of 5 p.m. and 7 a.m., Monday through Friday. Entry to campus facilities, other than authorized visitors/guests, is restricted unless clearance has been granted by individual administrators or by the Department of Public Safety.

Visitors must check in at a security desk before going to their destination. Each visitor will receive a visitor's ID badge, which must be affixed to outer clothing and visible. Security desks are located:

• PCOM (Philadelphia) - Rowland Hall
• PCOM Georgia - Main lobby of either the Northlake Drive building or Old Peachtree building
• PCOM South Georgia - Main lobby