Courtney Ballantine serves as the Chief of Police for the Georgetown University Police Department, leading the unified public safety forces across the university’s Hilltop and Capitol campuses. Appointed to the role in early 2026, he brings over twenty-five years of extensive law enforcement and emergency response experience to the university.
Prior to joining Georgetown, Ballantine built a distinguished quarter-century career with the Alexandria Police Department in Virginia, where he rose through the ranks from patrol officer to captain. During his tenure in Alexandria, he was instrumental in modernizing the department’s approach to mental health, notably establishing a Crisis Intervention Team to train officers in de-escalation and behavioral health awareness. He also launched a co-response program pairing officers with mental health specialists and created a peer support group for his colleagues.
Ballantine’s dedication to public safety began in his youth as a volunteer EMT and firefighter, a path he continued while earning his criminal justice degree at Radford University. He later advanced his professional expertise by completing a master’s degree in public safety at the University of Virginia and graduating from the prestigious FBI National Academy.
At Georgetown, Ballantine strongly advocates for community engagement, working to ensure that campus police are approachable, transparent, and focused on student success. Drawing on his own collegiate background in student emergency response, he actively supports GERMS, the university’s student-run medical service. Ultimately, his leadership philosophy revolves around supporting the whole person by cultivating a safe environment where students can thrive both academically and personally.