Promoting safety, from the FBI to USC

After “unjust” treatment at the hands of New Jersey law enforcement, Erroll Southers looked to take part in a “solution” for bettering public safety. Now, after holding an extensive career in uniform and working in transport security and counterterrorism, Southers serves as USC’s first associate senior vice president of safety and risk assurance.

Appointed in early January, Southers is responsible for all University safety divisions, including the Department of Public Safety, the Environmental Health and Safety Department and fire safety emergency planning. 

“I’m responsible for … everything from Trojan Check to crime, all of those elements that go into keeping our faculty, staff, students, visitors on campus and our neighbors safe,” said Southers in an interview with the Daily Trojan.

The University posted the position last June. The position was something the University “felt it needed for quite some time,” Southers said.

Before beginning the application process for the job, Southers served as the co-chair of the DPS Community Advisory Board. While holding the role, he helped create 45 recommendations for improving public safety, published July 28, included a proposal of an independent DPS oversight body. 

“A large part of the responsibilities for [vice president of safety and risk assurance] is seeing through the implementation of those recommendations that we proposed last year,” Southers said. 

Southers is a 1998 USC graduate, and a longtime veteran of law enforcement. He started at the Santa Monica Police Department and ended his uniform career at the Los Angeles World Airports police department as assistant chief of police at the Office of Homeland Security and Intelligence. He also spent time with the FBI, working on foreign counterintelligence, SWAT, counterterrorism and in the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security as the deputy director for critical infrastructure. 

Despite spending several years in uniform, teaching has always been central to Southers’ life. He taught at the Rio Hondo Police Academy, and during his time as a police officer, he earned his teaching credential for the state of California, followed by his masters and doctoral degrees. He would then work at the Sol Price School of Public Policy as a professor of practice and as part of the Safe Communities Institute, which works on public safety strategy, policy and communications. 

“I love campuses. I love learning. I love teaching,” Southers said. “I bring a lot of things to the classroom that are not so much theory, but real world in terms of the things that I share with them, and [students] seem to benefit from it.” 

Sol Price School of Public Policy Dean Dana Goldman worked closely with Southers over the last two years while Southers worked as a professor at the school and director of the Safe Communities Institute. Goldman said he not only admires Southers’ character and compassion but also the wealth of expertise he brings to his new role.

“Dr. Southers successfully built the Safe Communities Institute into one of the nation’s premier university centers to engage communities and improve public safety. His methods and training not only keep us safer, but do so in a way that improves the relationship between law enforcement and the constituencies they serve,” said Goldman in a statement to the Daily Trojan.

Jessie Redd, associate director and current interim director of the Safe Communities Institute — a division of the Price School of Public Policy engaged in public safety research and interdisciplinary education — spent the last four years working with Southers. 

“He’s just taught me so much, so many skills. I would say the most important thing he taught me is the importance of relationship building and maintaining healthy relationships because you never know when you’re going to run into someone again or lean on them,” Redd said. “His lived experiences are going to help him be the best associate senior vice president.”

Southers said he acknowledges the importance of law enforcement, policing, public safety and community engagement, which he said is a high priority in his new role.

“We have a lot of partners through the Safe Communities Institute where I was a director for three years, and I’m going to leverage those relationships with those partners so we can build a stronger and much more resilient bridge between us and the community as we go forward,” Southers said. 

Southers’ main project currently is recruiting DPS’ next chief. Holding six public input sessions for the University community, Southers will then push applicants through several committees and further input sessions to identify the best possible candidate. 

“The benefit, then, is the students get to really understand what DPS does, understand how they can enhance their life on campus and, more importantly, hold them to this issue of accountability and transparency that we are talking about,” Southers said. “I would like to see less of an emphasis on enforcement and more of an emphasis on community care.”

Southers also looks to push enhanced communication between USC and its neighbors as part of his new role. There are members of the surrounding community on the Community Advisory Board, Southers said, and on the search committee for the new DPS chief. 

“The conversations have to increase, the opportunities have to increase,” Southers said. “We’ve had a history of bridging with the community, and I’m hoping to enhance that history,” Southers said. 

Looking ahead, Southers said his main priority is realizing the ONE USC Safety Vision and accomplishing campus safety even with the threat of crime that comes with being in an urban environment. Southers said he hopes to better educate students on safety and work with the student community on promoting these lessons and safety values.

“I want us to be known as the safest campus in the United States, and I want that to happen because I want people to say that everybody here is treated fairly, respected and kept safe like everyone else,” Southers said. “You can’t learn if you’re not safe.”