PSU police disband, town officers now responsible for campus

PLYMOUTH — After months of discussion, the Plymouth State University Police Department has been disbanded, and campus policing will be taken over by town police.

Leaders say this has been an ongoing conversation for a long time, and in recent years Plymouth Police and PSU have been working together on the transition.

“This is a collaborative effort between the Plymouth Police Department and Plymouth State University,” said Police Chief Nate Buffington. “The goal is to provide consistent, professional policing on campus, while maintaining strong police coverage for the rest of the community. And we believe this approach positions us well to do both.”

The PSU Police Department’s last day serving was Jan. 31, and starting this month, Plymouth Police will patrol university buildings and respond to criminal complaints, according to Town Manager Scott Weden.

Currently, the document outlining the change is in the works. For now, there is a verbal agreement between PSU administration, and town and police department leaders.

“We are working on the logistics,” Weden said. “This wasn’t in the ’25-’26 budget, so we will be holding a public hearing about accepting funds from PSU.”

Weden said there were two divisions within the PSU department — certified officers and safety services. The department had two certified, full-time officers — Chief Stephen LeFebvre and Public Safety Sgt. Joseph Vogel. Neither will be working for Plymouth Police.

LeFebvre served more than 20 years with Plymouth Police, including as chief. He retired about four years ago, then went on to take the role of PSU chief.

Weden said LeFebvre is now “done with police work and has retired.”

The safety services division of PSU Police will continue duties involving lockouts, rides, and parking complaints.

“They will be staying on, and handling those types of calls for service as university employees,” Weden said.

Denise Panyik-Dale, PSU director of marketing and communications, said the budget impact of this move will be “effectively neutral.” She said this move has been in the making for “quite a while,” and is being done to ensure the highest standards of student safety.

“The main thing, as any college would say, is that the safety of our students is top priority,” she said.

The goal is to address “longstanding challenges with having our own university police,” and Panyik-Dale said this will optimize response to emergencies and investigations.

“This will be a logical expansion of a function that PPD has been performing for well over a year,” Panyik-Dale said. “We have always worked together closely, and calls would go into dispatch after hours, anyway.”

A focus is on expanding campus safety and security staffing for additional foot patrols, access, lock assistance, and transportation.

“There will no longer be a function called the university police department, and instead we are expanding the relationship with PPD,” she said. “It’s been a wonderful partnership for a long time, but we are also expanding the campus security operations.”

From a student point of view, she said it doesn’t change much. They will still use the same phone numbers to contact police when needed, and the response will remain the same.

While no official statement has come from town, university, or police leadership, Panyik-Dale said the change is no mystery.

“Because we have had public meetings, people are aware that this has been discussed,” she said.

Buffington said the primary responsibility his team is taking on doesn’t have any impact on day-to-day operations, but instead is something they have planned for and are actively managing. He said for the last 18 months, Plymouth Police have assisted campus police with shift coverage.

“So although this is now becoming official, it has been in motion for quite some time,” Buffington said. “While this does add to overall call volume, public safety in the community remains my top priority, and we are taking steps to ensure we can meet those demands effectively.”

Buffington said the department has a plan in place to hire additional officers, to ensure the workload is properly managed. The positions are intended to support campus-related calls, as well as overall town coverage. He said the hiring process is currently underway.

Police are also working closely with the university on how to clearly define and prioritize their response for calls for service.

“Police officers will focus on incidents where law enforcement authority, investigation, or emergency response is required, while campus safety will continue to handle and assist with lower-level, or non-criminal, matters,” Buffington said. “This coordinated approach allows us to use resources efficiently, and ensure the right response is sent to the right type of call.”

Weden said while the final numbers aren’t set yet, the town will charge the university a fee for service. The hope, he said, is for the town to have a memorandum of understanding in place in time for a public hearing on Feb. 23, so the town can accept the funds from PSU.

The public hearing will be held during the Monday, Feb. 23 selectboard meeting, 5 p.m. at Plymouth Town Hall.