Two weeks ago I found myself standing on a podium looking into the wide-eyed faces of eighteen municipal police supervisors and administrators as I taught an advanced law enforcement training course for the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy in Richfield, Ohio. The course, titled "Managing Patrol Operations," proactively focused on using COP, POP, Intelligence-Led Policing and Traffic initiatives to counter the growing threat of subversive activities posed by hardened criminals and terrorists. A portion of the training involved getting the students to realize that their respective jurisdictions were just as susceptible to the organized efforts of criminal activity, such as what you would find in major cities.
As you are well aware, countering that NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) mindset is a difficult task. In order to drive home my point, I used several examples, one of which detailed how university police officers from The University of Akron Police Department were, within hours of the attack on 9/11, engaged in counter-terrorism activities. When I asked for a show of hands of how many officers represented by the departments in attendance were involved in either counter or anti-terrorism measures on that dreadful day, not one supervisor raised his hand. Most just looked at me with what appeared to be curiosity, as if to ask, "Why would university security be doing counter-terrorism?" University security wasn't; University Police were.
Officer "Know-it-all"
Cops are inherently smart people. We have to be. People tell us lies daily. We have to figure suspects out quickly. However, cops have egos larger than life, which have a tendency to make us stupid on occasion. We are experts in the investigative skills of observation, yet fall victim to the fallacy of believing what we see, although clearly not understanding what we are looking at. We are highly trained to hear slight discrepancies in verbal statements for the purpose of detecting deception, but at the same time when we are around fellow officers we will believe a rumor without question. Hence, we think we know everything.
Compare and Contrast
Today, to stay current in the field, since I am now a full-time educator, I work for a township police department that is about five miles from The University of Akron. Township officers that I work with have the opinion that university officers are simply "over-glorified security". I have found this same misconception to be evident with other municipal officers I have met over the years, in addition to the general public. Over the last 18 years of my career, I've worked for campus as well as municipal police agencies, and I can attest that I have done far more actual policing on campus than I ever did in a city. In this case, let the facts speak for themselves:
- Geography: The Township has a service population of about 40,000 within a 25 square mile service area. The University's service population is around 56,000 (within its patrol district) of about five square miles.
- Manpower: 25 township officers patrol a jurisdiction that is half rural. 35 university officers serve a diverse urban population, accounting for over 100 different nationalities within the City of Akron, which boasts its own service population of around 350,000 people. The university is a complex city within a city.
- Arrests: 25 township officers average about 250 physical arrests per year (ten arrests per officer per year); most are misdemeanors. 35 university officers make around 1,100 physical arrests (31 arrests per officer per year). About 25% of these apprehensions are felonies.
- Assignments: The township has one full-time detective; the university has three, with one investigator specializing in technology crimes who frequently assists the FBI and other agencies regionally with computer forensics. The township and the university both assigned one officer full-time to a HIDTA task-force. The university also contributed one officer to the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force before the township police even considered doing so. The township placed two officers on a regional SWAT unit; the university has its own tactical team that provides mutual aid capacity to other teams. Township officers have seen the President of the United States on television; university officers frequently provide close-up dignitary protection to him working in partnership with the U.S. Secret Service, and have protected many other national and international figures of prominence.
- Defined Authority: Township officers, under Ohio law, are "appointed" (non-home rule), which traditionally equates to political patronage (you knew the trustee and you got a job). Townships are the lowest level of government in the state. University officers are hired through competitive state civil service procedures; the campus police department is defined as a state law enforcement agency.
What Do You Think Now?
The list can go on and on, and my purpose is not to provide tit for tat. I am simply trying to convey the truth; working for a public campus police agency is not boring security work. Don't make the mistake of forming an opinion when you do not know the facts. Tactically, it can get you killed. Several police tactics columnists for LawOfficer.com will attest that the 65-year-old man you are being dispatched to deal with is just as deadly as the 30-year-old. The real threat, I would argue, isn't them–it's you. Your complacency, ego, living- in-a-dream world mentality is the real danger.
Years ago, I met a city officer in a training class who commented to me that once he retired he would apply to my campus agency and hoped to work there as a retirement job. I looked at him and laughed. I still don't think he understood why. Maybe now he is reading this article.
Finally, think about this: statistically, the age group causing the most ruckus throughout the nation are offenders between the ages of 18-25. Generally, this age demographic within most municipalities ranges from somewhere between 15% – 25% of your total population (the remainder accounts for juveniles, middle-aged, and the elderly). In other words, 15% to 25% of your community generates most of the calls for law enforcement service. Where is this age group for colleges and universities? Roughly 80% to 90%. How busy would your agency be if your city's 18-25 year olds accounted for 80%-90% of the total population? My last question to you is this: Who is security now?