Rate My Professor Dave Scott

Dave Scott has served as Proctor at the University of Otago since the end of May 2016, bringing over two decades of distinguished service with the New Zealand Police in Dunedin to the role. As Senior Sergeant and Dunedin area response manager, he oversaw day-to-day front-line policing and acted as second-in-charge of the Dunedin armed offenders squad. From 2012 to 2016, Scott was the police forward commander for the annual Hyde Street party, where he built strong partnerships with the Otago University Students' Association, Campus Watch, and the Campus Constable. He led collaborative initiatives involving emergency services, landlords, students, local businesses, and university staff to mitigate risks, implementing key safety measures including a glass-free environment, ticketed entry for crowd control, bans on sitting on flat roofs, requirements for food provision, and deployment of volunteer safety teams. These changes markedly reduced injuries, alcohol-related harm, and associated costs to public services.

In his current position within Student Services, Scott supervises the pioneering Campus Watch team—New Zealand's only 24/7 university safety service—with five team leaders and around 40 staff members delivering pastoral care, late-night Safety Patrols from 11pm to 3am on Wednesdays through Sundays, walk-home escorts, event registrations, flat checks during breaks, secure firearm storage, and emergency coordination alongside the Office of Risk, Assurance and Compliance. He manages campus CCTV operations for offender identification in support of police investigations, oversees building security and ID card access, and fosters town-gown relationships to maintain a safe learning environment. Scott's evidence-based approach emphasizes negotiation, logical persuasion, and positive guidance to encourage responsible student behaviour, contributing to one of the safest university campuses globally. His office addresses contemporary challenges such as flat initiations, aggressive alcohol marketing, and unsafe pop-up parties through proactive interventions and advocacy, including submissions for glass bottle restrictions near campus.