UW-Madison Police Department

What UW-Madison Police Department does

The UW-Madison Police Department (UWPD) is the sworn campus law enforcement agency of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, providing 24/7 patrol, criminal investigation, emergency response, safety escort, and event security services to a community of approximately 51,822 students and 28,017 faculty and staff (Fall 2025), plus campus visitors. The department coordinates with the university's Title IX office and other campus safety resources and is organizationally positioned under the Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration. It is the primary on-campus responder for 911 calls and conducts criminal investigations, as evidenced by recent enforcement actions on sexual assault and graffiti offenses.

The department does not sell products or services and has no disclosed technology stack, no commercial product portfolio, and no go-to-market or pricing model. Its primary delivery surface is direct physical presence on the Madison campus, supported by the institutional website (uwpd.wisc.edu) and campus safety resource pages for information dissemination and emergency notification. UWPD has no subsidiaries, no funding rounds, no M&A activity, and no disclosed AI, software, or data products of its own.

From a business-model perspective, UWPD is best characterized as a publicly funded cost center within a state university system. Inputs are public appropriations flowing through the university; outputs are public safety outcomes for a captive internal population. The unit has no independent external revenue line, no paying customers, no pricing, and no commercial go-to-market motion. Investment-relevant signals for the department itself are limited and should be read through the lens of institutional governance, regulatory and legal exposure, and the broader UW-Madison operating environment rather than conventional venture or growth-equity indicators.

Name

UW-Madison Police Department

Legal name

University of Wisconsin–Madison

Website

https://wisc.edu

Company type

Public

Founded year

1848

Operating status

Operating

Short description

The UW-Madison Police Department is the campus law enforcement agency of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, providing patrol, emergency response, criminal investigation, and safety services to over 51,000 students and 28,000 faculty and staff on the Madison campus.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Campus Law Enforcement / Public Safety Services

NAICS

Police Protection (922120)

SIC

Services-Detective, Guard & Armored Car Services (7381)

akta.pro primary industry

Campus Law Enforcement & Investigations (EDALAEAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Campus Security Guarding & Patrol Services (EDAEACAA), School Resource Officer (SRO) & Law Enforcement Liaison Services (EDAEACAL)

Keywords

• Campus law enforcement
• Emergency response services
• Campus safety patrols
• Crime prevention services
• Safety escort programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Madison

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

The UW-Madison Police Department provides campus law enforcement, emergency response (911), patrol, crime prevention, incident investigation, safety escort, and security services for campus events and facilities to the UW-Madison community of students, faculty, staff, and visitors. It coordinates with the Title IX office and other campus safety resources and reports through the Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Emergency response and 911 services
• Campus patrol and crime prevention
• Campus incident investigation
• Safety escort services

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves2 records

Direct peers

• University of Michigan Division of Public Safety and Security: Provides sworn law enforcement, emergency response, and campus safety services for the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. It is directly comparable to UW-Madison PD as a Big Ten peer institution with a similarly large research campus population, a sworn police force with arrest authority, and integrated Title IX and emergency management coordination.
• Penn State University Police and Public Safety: Sworn campus police agency providing patrol, investigations, and emergency response across Penn State's University Park campus. Directly comparable to UW-Madison PD in operating model — a public university police department embedded within a large land-grant research institution, serving tens of thousands of students and staff.
• Ohio State University Police Division: Sworn law enforcement agency providing campus safety services for The Ohio State University in Columbus. Directly comparable to UW-Madison PD as a fellow Big Ten flagship public university police department with similar scope (patrol, criminal investigation, emergency notification, event security) and a comparable large campus population.
• Michigan State University Police and Public Safety: Campus police department providing sworn law enforcement and safety services for Michigan State University in East Lansing. Comparable to UW-Madison PD as a Big Ten university police department serving a large residential and research campus with integrated emergency management, crime prevention, and investigative functions.
• University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Police Department: Sworn campus police agency serving the UIUC campus. Directly comparable to UW-Madison PD as a fellow Big Ten public university with a large enrollment, a research-intensive mission, and a campus police force that handles patrol, criminal investigations, and emergency response for a comparable population.
• University of Minnesota Police Department: Sworn campus police department providing law enforcement and public safety services for the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus. Comparable to UW-Madison PD as a fellow Big Ten university police department operating on a large urban research campus with overlapping jurisdictional coordination and a comparable scope of patrol, investigation, and emergency response duties.
• UCLA Police Department: Sworn campus police agency serving UCLA, a large public research university with comparable enrollment scale to UW-Madison. Directly comparable as a flagship public university police department with similar mandate (patrol, criminal investigations, emergency management) on a dense urban campus adjacent to a major city.
• University of Texas at Austin Police Department: Sworn campus police department serving UT Austin, one of the largest U.S. public universities. Directly comparable to UW-Madison PD in scale, mission, and operating model — a large flagship public university police department providing patrol, investigations, and emergency response for tens of thousands of students, faculty, and staff.

Broad incumbents

• City of Madison Police Department: Municipal police department serving the broader City of Madison, within which the UW-Madison campus sits. Comparable to UW-Madison PD as the broader incumbent law enforcement jurisdiction, with overlapping authority and routine mutual-aid coordination on incidents that cross the campus boundary. Broader in scope (full city jurisdiction) but adjacent in mandate and operating geography.

Others

• Dane County Sheriff's Office: County-level law enforcement agency providing patrol, corrections, and civil services across Dane County, Wisconsin. Comparable to UW-Madison PD as an adjacent public safety agency with overlapping jurisdiction, mutual aid, and booking coordination (e.g., suspects from campus incidents are booked into Dane County jail). Not a direct competitor but a key operational counterpart.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/UWMadisonPolice
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/uwmadison
• Facebookfacebook.com/UWMadisonPolice
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/uwpd
• Instagraminstagram.com/uwmadison

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries14 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about UW-Madison Police Department