Job Description Summary
The Campus Safety Officer is a uniformed, unarmed, Florida Class “D” licensed security professional who protects the life, safety, and property of Saint Leo University students, faculty, staff, and visitors. Officers provide visible patrol, access control, event support, and first response to medical, fire, and safety incidents, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Officers serve as approachable, community-oriented representatives of the University and carry out their duties consistent with Saint Leo’s Catholic Benedictine values of community, respect, and hospitality.
Officers are not sworn law enforcement officers. They hold no greater legal authority than a private citizen and coordinate with the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO), which has primary law enforcement jurisdiction over the campus, for any incident that exceeds that authority.
Job Description
Patrol and Access Control
Conduct foot, golf cart, and marked-vehicle patrol of assigned zones, including building and lock checks, residence hall access-control procedures, and documented checks of the Saint Leo Academy residential area.
Provide escort services, parking and traffic direction, and welfare checks, including missing-student protocols.
Verify identification of unfamiliar persons, and issue University trespass warnings in coordination with PCSO.
Emergency and Incident Response
Respond first to fire alarms, intrusion alarms, and medical emergencies; provide first aid, CPR, and AED care within training and certification until Fire Rescue, EMS, or PCSO arrives.
Respond to fights, alcohol- and substance-related incidents, and mental health crises using verbal de-escalation first, and summon PCSO whenever a weapon, felony, serious injury, or situation beyond private-person authority is involved.
Support active-threat, lockdown, bomb-threat, and severe weather procedures, following PCSO direction and the University’s emergency notification protocols.
Provide a clear verbal handoff to responding PCSO deputies and preserve the scene.
Use of Force and Legal Compliance
Use only the minimum objectively reasonable force, as defined by the University’s Use of Force Policy and Florida law, and de-escalate at the earliest safe opportunity. Officers never carry firearms and never use or threaten deadly force.
Carry and use OC spray and restraints only while current in certification, and disengage and summon PCSO when a situation cannot be safely resolved.
Event Support
Staff athletic contests, commencement, orientation, move-in/move-out, concerts, and other campus events, maintaining a visible, approachable presence and assisting with crowd flow, access points, and rapid response.
Minors and Special Populations
Follow heightened-duty-of-care procedures for Saint Leo Academy students, who are minors, including de-escalation as the required first response and release of minors only to authorized persons.
Report suspected abuse or neglect of any minor immediately to the Florida Abuse Hotline as a mandatory reporter, in parallel with internal notification.
Documentation, Equipment, and Training
Write accurate, timely incident, use-of-force, trespass, alarm, and shift reports; submit a Use of Force Report before the end of shift for any force at Level 4 (mechanical restraint) or above.
Inspect the duty belt, patrol vehicle, and golf cart at the start of every shift, restock used supplies, and tag deficient equipment out of service.
Complete the 80-hour Field Training Officer program before solo patrol and a minimum of 40 hours of in-service training every calendar year.
Wear the issued uniform and University ID visibly while on duty and meet grooming standards. Perform other duties as assigned.
AUTHORITY AND LIMITATIONS
Campus Safety Officers operate as a licensed private security function under Chapter 493, Florida Statutes. Officers may detain a person they directly witness committing a felony or breach of the peace, using reasonable non-deadly force, for…