May 1 marks nine years since Marquette University Police Department was commissioned. Since day one, MUPD has made ensuring a safe environment for everyone on Marquette’s campus and the surrounding community its top priority.
Marquette is thankful for the work MUPD does every day to keep our campus and the surrounding community safe. Through MUPD’s proactive safety efforts, students learn how to develop better situational awareness, limit exposure to risk and know how to act in an emergency or crisis – all life-smart skills that live beyond their time on campus as they become engaged citizens. MUPD raises awareness for rising issues that can affect students, offers programs to help keep students’ off-campus residences safe during breaks, advocates for important resources, trains and oversees the student drivers who are vital to the EagleExpress free transportation service and play critical roles supporting community vitality among our Near West Side communities.
About the history of MUPD
Marquette is the only private institution in Wisconsin with its own commissioned police department, and MUPD is fully funded by the university. With more than 60 trained public safety professionals, MUPD has an extensive safety infrastructure throughout campus and in the near-off-campus neighborhood, which includes more than 1,219 cameras and more than 450 Blue Light phones, a state-of-the-art command information center and the nationally recognized Department of Campus Safety.
Marquette was granted the authority to create MUPD under 2013 Wisconsin Act 265 as a result of a recommendation by the 2007 State of Wisconsin Governor’s Task Force on Campus Safety. When MUPD became a commissioned police force on May 1, 2015, the Milwaukee Police Department retained primary jurisdiction of the area with MUPD serving as an additional layer of law enforcement. Because 90% of the MUPD patrol zone is public right-of-way, MUPD officers and staff are providing valuable safety and security resources that benefit the city of Milwaukee.
Learn more about university safety and the important role of MUPD.
