The Gainesville State College Department of Public Safety is a full-service law enforcement agency dedicated to serving the college community, including students, faculty, staff, and residents within its jurisdiction which includes all campus owned or leased property and 500 yards around such property. Our mission is to provide police, parking and emergency preparedness services to the Gainesville State College community in a professional manner that will provide the college a safe environment that is conducive to education for all that study, work and visit GSC.Gainesville State College is concerned about the safety and welfare of all employees, members, and guests and commits itself to promoting a safe and secure environment. Because no environment can totally isolate itself from crime, Gainesville State College has developed a series of policies and procedures designed to ensure that every possible precaution is taken to protect this community. Many of these are located in the campus safety section of this website. The Gainesville State College Department of Public Safety works closely with all departments to ensure that safety policy and procedures are uniformly executed and conveyed in a clear and consistent manner.
The department employs trained police officers who are certified by the Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST) Council of Georgia. Personnel from the department are on duty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, striving to make the campus and its surrounding environs as safe as possible. Officers are responsible for a full range of services to the campus community, including all crime report investigations, medical emergencies, fire emergencies, traffic accident investigations, and enforcement of all college policies including those relating to alcohol use, drug use, and weapons possession.
Since 2007, the GSC Department of Public Safety has been a state certified law enforcement agency. All sworn officers receive over 400 hours of initial training at one of several regional law enforcement training centers, and they are vested with the same powers of arrest as any other peace officer in the state. In addition, officers receive a minimum of 20 hours of training per year.
The department provides a wide variety of services, ranging from motorist assistance, to answering routine and emergency calls for service, to major case investigation and community-oriented programming. Regardless of what their assigned duties might be, the department’s personnel are dedicated to the delivery of pro-active law enforcement services in a positive and professional manner.
The GSC Department of Public Safety on the Gainesville/Oakwood campus can be reached at 678-717-3723 during business hours and at 678-717-1777 or 911 for emergencies occurring after business hours. The Oconee campus security officers can be reached at 706-215-1474 whenever school is open.