On the Hill

A personal touch

Joe Shanley made himself familiar to the students he watched over.

Shanley was recently promoted from Department of Public Safety patrol officer to corporal of the community policing division and the Adopt-A-Hall and Orange Watch Plus programs for DPS.

He would visit Boland, Brewster, Lawrinson and Sadler Halls as part of his normal patrol beat.

He would sit in his patrol car outside of the halls and walk around lounges to talk to students. He watched football on Sundays with the residents of Sadler Hall’s seventh floor.

“He basically would just come and hang out for a little, watch football or basketball,” said Tim Basher, a freshman in the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry who lives on the seventh floor of Sadler Hall.



“It definitely increases the relationship; the off chance that something happens, it helps to have a friend here. He is a really good guy. It’s not like he is up here trying to be an officer, he is just up here trying to be a normal guy.”

And that’s the sort of relationship DPS is hoping for.

In the past five years, DPS has added a new chief (Anthony Callisto), expanded patrols and received a new designation as peace officers.

And now the department is reaching out to the student body.

In an effort to make connections with the community and help protect against campus violence, DPS has expanded its crime prevention unit. The unit recently began several new programs on campus, centered on community policing, while strengthening existing programs.

‘The department, under (new) director Anthony Callisto, has made a very real and considerate effort to embrace the community policing philosophy,” said Mike Rathburn, assistant director of DPS. “A lot of departments talk about community policing. It has been a buzz word since the 70s, but our department, unlike a lot, really puts our money where our mouth is.”

The cornerstone of the community policing model is creating a connection with, and becoming a member of, the community. The responsibility of making that connection has been placed on squarely on the crime prevention unit.

‘The hardest part is getting past the unfortunate impression that I might make to someone the first or second time,” Shanley said. “We are trying to change the perception by trying to see students when there isn’t an issue. Just to get them to know the officers so when there is an issue they will feel comfortable coming to DPS.”

The crime prevention unit is also involved in security vulnerability assessment.

“We went around and surveyed all the auditoriums to see if there was an incident if people could lock themselves in,” said CJ McCurty, the head of South Campus Crime Prevention. “We went around and checked all the offices, class rooms, door locks and bolts to see if there is anything we can improve on. We also go through campus two times a year at night to make sure trees are trim and there is good lighting.”

The unit’s founding philosophy is to reduce crime and increase the safety of students on campus by educating them about ways to reduce the risk of becoming a victim.

“The bottom line is that three things have to be present for a crime: A person has to want to take something, they have to have the opportunity to do it and they have to want to do it,” said McCurty. “Crime prevention is primarily education…It’s about reducing the opportunity. We can’t change the criminals, but we can reduce the opportunity. It’s oversimplified, but that’s the bottom line of what we teach.”

The Adopt-A-Hall program, run by the crime prevention unit, has specific DPS officers stationed in residence halls to form relationships with students and residence staff. While the program has been in practice for three years, it has undergone a transformation under Shanley.

“When we first (started the program), we tried to get officers to volunteer, but there wasn’t enough participation,” Shanley said. ‘They tried to make it an assignment with all officers getting in to it, but you get some that are really into it and some not so much.”

The ultimate goal of the program is to create relationships that allow students to come forward when they sense a problem, Shanley said.

Matthew Sheft, a sophomore education major, said having a DPS presence in residence halls creates a more civil environment, which is sometimes not available when the students are constantly under camera surveillance.

Cameras were added on campus during the 2007 fall semester.

“It bothers me when they have cameras set up in various spots on campus,” Sheft said. “But a person doesn’t bother me as much. It’s humanizing, I view it as protection whereas surveillance cameras are more like voyeurism.”

The increased presence in residence halls isn’t only for students. Resident directors and resident advisers also benefit. Part of the Adopt-A-Hall program involves meetings with residence hall support staff in order to ready itself for any potential tragedy.

‘The Adopt-A-Hall program was implemented three years ago in an effort to have DPS in our residence halls and not just when an incident happens but just to have a presence,” said Shannon Cross, Office of Residence Life Communication director. “It’s beneficial for the staff because they directly see DPS in the building, so if there is an incident the level of report is there.”

 





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