Day in the life: Powell gives insight on Campus Safety

by: Ronald Lucas
edited: Christopher Bastien, Chris Gibbons and Paul Lambert

On a typical afternoon, you can find student officer Ryan Eldridge in the lobby of Campus Safety. He greets you all with a smile and says “How can I help you.”

(Photo eRaven)

Students can meet with Campus Safety officers and talk about issues they are having. Information on how to pay a parking ticket, registering a guest, or registering a new vehicle are some of the issues that Eldridge can assist with. The Campus Safety officer receptionist can then dispatch an on-duty officer to resolve the problem.

Other than Eldridge, you can also find Christopher Powell, the Director of Campus Safety, in the building until 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Powell explained his goal is to maintain “the safety of students and staff on campus.” In order to improve campus safety, they are installing more security cameras on campus. Powell also said “We are trying to improve the overall relationship between students, faculty, and campus safety officers.” In an effort to improve the community view of Campus Safety officers, more training such as  “Introducing themselves and having a name badge in order to make students feels more comfortable and willing to interact with Campus Safety Officers, is being taught,” Powell said.

The obstacle that Campus Safety officers face day-to-day include “enforcing the parking violations on campus due to the fact that there’s limited parking spots on campus,” Powell said.

When asked if they will make more parking spaces on campus, Powell said no due to lack of extra room on campus.