PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — As crime has risen in recent years, parents of teenagers and college students alike are asking: Will my child be safe going to school in Philadelphia?
Temple University began its fall semester Monday with some new public safety features in place, like a more robust emergency reporting app that includes a one-touch panic button. Keeping students safe is a priority for the university, but even the school’s top public safety official admits that goal is being hampered by infighting in her department.
In 2019, Temple police reported 26 violent crimes that took place on its main campus. That number dropped to 18 in 2020 and 15 in 2021, in line with pandemic closures.
Security concerns ramped up in November 2021 when Temple student Samuel Collington was shot and killed in a broad-daylight attempted carjacking blocks away from campus.
This past February, Temple University Police Officer Christopher Fitzgerald, 31, was shot to death near campus — the first Temple police officer killed in the line of duty. Officials said Fitzgerald was in pursuit of three masked males and got into a tussle with one of them, 18-year-old Miles Pfeffer. Pfeffer fired several shots, fatally striking Fitzgerald.
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Facing a no-confidence vote by the faculty union, Temple President Jason Wingard announced his resignation in March. Even with a new acting president in place, questions linger about the university’s ability to keep the campus safe.
Potentially complicating matters further is the strained relationship between Temple Vice President of Public Safety Dr. Jennifer Griffin and Temple University Police Association President Alec Shaffer.
Earlier this summer, Shaffer and the union called for Griffin’s resignation. In a June 1 statement, the union said she “unjustly terminated” three female officers within 48 hours, undermining “morale and trust.” The union also accuses Griffin of failing to implement “any significant officer safety improvements” since the shooting death of Fitzgerald.
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“We believe that her actions and decisions have resulted in a failure to adequately protect and support both the Temple University community and the police officers serving within it,” the statement reads.
The university did not say why those officers were fired.
Griffin joined the university in August 2022 as the school’s first vice president for public safety, and the union’s animosity for her started shortly thereafter, when Griffin referred to Temple police as “university safety officers” instead of police officers.
Shaffer says Griffin doesn’t respect his members and he wants her to resign.
“I think the bridge, to be honest, is pretty burnt,” he said.
Griffin says union leadership’s stance is part of what’s undermining confidence in public safety.
“It is very unfortunate because it is harmful to the university,” she said. “It is harmful to our department.”
She says she hosts monthly meetings about campus safety, but only some union leaders attend. Griffin, who is starting her second year on the job, says she will not resign and will continue to host meetings in the hopes of working with all of the union leadership.
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