Category | Arts & Living

Ride along with campus police

Published on January 12, 2010 by Rebecca Hood

“Let’s go out here to Chastain and see if we can’t stop some cars,” said Officer Todd Jackson of the KSU Police Department as he switches on his dispatch radio. Jackson is one of 23 officers employed by KSU to serve and protect the campus. Observation for illegal things is basically what you’re looking for,” said Jackson during a ride along.

After two hours in a police car on a Wednesday night, Jackson stopped two cars for a blown headlight though he didn’t issue a ticket to either driver. “On a college campus, you deal with people in a different way,” said Jackson. “With college students, most of the time you just say ‘Hey! Stop doing that and boom, they’re done.’”

The crime level at KSU is one of the lowest among the University System of Georgia. “I’ve never felt unsafe on campus and I’ve had some late classes,” said Ashlee Mansoori. There are normally three officers patrolling KSU and the surrounding area at all times.

The jurisdiction of the KSU police extends from campus to a quarter of a mile from any building that KSU owns. “When I’m on patrol, I’m looking for traffic violations, checking buildings and patrolling by foot at night,” said Jackson.

While the KSU police strive to keep campus safe, their efforts are often unnoticed and even unappreciated by the students they serve to protect. “They seem to stake out and wait for people to make mistakes,” said Mansoori, one of many who resent the KSU law enforcement officers because of a ticket and $150 fine she paid due to making an illegal left turn.

While some resent KSU police officers, many respect the effort of the law enforcement, despite the consequences of doing something illegal. “I was pulled over for a good reason,” said Blake Herring. “I improperly used a central turning lane and made an improper left hand pass.” Herring said the experience has prevented him from further violating the law, especially on campus.

Facebook groups such as “I Hate Kennesaw Cops” and “KSU COPS BLOW” serve as a place for discussion for members who join. “They only patrol a couple of blocks and they can’t even do that well,” said Steven Hanft on a Facebook group message board.

Despite many students arguing over the message boards whether or not they are actually “real” policemen, Jackson assures that KSU officers are qualified and go through the same training as municipal or county policemen. Jackson’s previous experience includes working for a college campuses in Maine, Massachusetts, Alabama and Douglasville, Ga. “I’ve worked for the municipal police, as well as for college campuses, the training is exactly the same,” said Jackson.

On a typical night, Jackson works from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., patrolling campus and the surrounding areas. He makes any routine stops for cars not in compliance with the law. One night, while driving along Campus Loop Road around 9:30 p.m., Jackson immediately noticed a car with a blown light. He quickly flipped on his lights, grabbed his radio, made a decisive U-turn and began calling in the license plate. After talking to the driver, Jackson returned and ran the driver’s license and tag number as he said, “Unless he’s wanted or something, I’ll just let him go.”

Even when a student from Russia was stopped because his car was displaying an inaccurate tag, Jackson was understanding as he informed the driver to get the tag taken care of first thing the next day. “He didn’t realize he was doing something illegal, he sold his old car and just transferred the tag,” said Jackson.

“You have to be understanding of situations like that.” According to Jackson, all arrests and tickets issued are according to the discretion of the officer: “That’s a big part of our job, discretion.”

During the ride along, Jackson patrolled KSU buildings, gave directions to visitors looking for the theater and disbanding of skateboarders in the Central Deck. While Jackson is considerate of situations such as group of blown headlights, he takes other calls very seriously.

In September 2009, the KSU police department filed 79 police reports. Among those reports were nine accounts of theft or burglary, six cases of harassing communications, four hit and run incidents, seven alcohol violations, two suspicious persons, two accounts of domestic dispute, two incidents involving dangerous drugs and 14 accounts of smoking in unauthorized areas.

Jackson said in instances such as underage drinking in the residence halls are normally handled by RAs and only require police intervention if the residents are uncooperative. “I’m not going to be walking up and down the halls looking for people drinking, if I’m there, somebody called me,” said Jackson.

It is the discretion of the officer to issue citations or to arrest the individuals. Of the seven reports of alcohol violations on campus, two resulted in arrest. “I still feel sorry, I hate to do it to people, but you have to draw the line,” said Jackson.