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WILKES-BARRE — Having spent several years steadily upgrading campus security — opening a new public safety office, hiring a man with three decades experience at the University of Maryland to head the department, and arming security guards — Wilkes University is now considering creating a campus police force.
If that happens, it will join the University of Scranton as the only area institution of higher education with such a security arrangement.
President Patrick Leahy confirmed that he spoke about the possibility during Friday’s Spring Convocation, but stressed it is very early in the process.
The difference between a force of security guards and a police force is expanded powers, including the power to arrest and detain without having to call the municipal force. For years, Wilkes officials, including Leahy, have praised the cooperative support of the city police department, but never ruled out starting their own campus force.
Wilkes armed some security guards in 2014, becoming the second Luzerne County campus to do so. Luzerne County Community College guards started carrying firearms in 2013. King’s College joined the movement in 2015 when it announced plans to arm guards. Misericordia University announced it would arm some guards in 2017.