If all goes well I will be jumping from my Sheriff's Office to a better paying, better benefits, University Campus Cop job on the 12th. The cool part is that this is a brand new campus meaning an all-new agency. They are hiring 6 of us to be "Founding Officers". The Chief is very cool and pro-gun (at least as much as she can in a University setting. She wants rifles in all the cars ect). The Commander came from a neighboring SO and is a former SWAT team member. He and I hit it off just fine. Everyone is a lateral with special skill needed to put the department together. I was told that I am the only one with any Range Master experience (8 years) so I will be the department Range Master and Armorer. Chief wanted Sig 229's so that is what we got. She did not like the idea of putting lights on the guns until we had a long talk about it during my Chiefs interview. At the end of the talk she said that she might send the 229's back and get some 226's or 229's with rails so we can put lights on the guns. The Commander was very happy to hear that. Shotguns are Rem. 1187's with rifle sights. I hope they fit in the racks without damaging the sights. Already have TASERS and a few other toys. All in all it looks like a good move. Even my Sheriff said that if he were I he would take it and not look back

Anyone here work on a college campus? I would like to hear some of the skinny before I go.

had a few buddies that worked for a UPD

fall, winter, some spring rock

summer.........SUCKS!

BUT you get rifles in the trunk eh?

do you get to bring yourown?

run that by the your CO!

sounds like your gonna be armed to the bear! most HP here arent even that armed!

have fun and GL!

I plan to. We do not have the rifles in the budget this year so I was going to approach it as a stop-gap until we get issued rifles. Most agencies in my area allow personal rifles due to $$ issues. Its a win-win for the department and the Officers.

Is it a private or public University?

Public state owned.

Okay...that makes it a lot better.  Way tooooooooo much politics in the private institutions.  Like dealing with drunken teenagers and 20 somethings?  I sure hope you do....  One major plus is the "scenery"

Regards,
Gary

lil ChoMo's! LOL

I was going to say it must be public cuz it sounds like you got $$$ comming out of your eyeballs

Get used to about 90% of your call load to be related to alcohol in some way.

At least working a public school, you won't get near the number of the spoiled, over-priviledged children of spoiled, over-priviledged parents that I have to deal with.

Have fun!

Dave

I work for a private college and yes the scenery is very nice.  From my experience the kids believe that real world rules/laws don't apply to them because it is "only college."  Some Fraternities are organized gangs that deal drugs to raise money.  They extort and intimidate other members of the campus community.  Drug induced rapes seem norm and now "Tagging" has become popular.  Tagging is when an unconscious (drugs or alcohol induced) female is stripped of her clothes, raped and then marked with permanent marker all over her body, redressed and dropped off somewhere.  If I have to interview one more 18 year old girl that can't remeber the last 4 hours of her night out I am going to go crazy.  

There are plenty of good kids trying to get an education but you generally won't meet them.

A lot of things have already been mentioned: Loads of fun during school year boring as hell during summer, lots of alcohol related incidents.

Get used to the word incident vs. crime. The political BS sometimes has a way of favoring campus judical vs. a UTT or arrest.

Sounds like a good dept. wish mine were like that!

New campus on Hwy 99?

Good luck and enjoy the new department.

Brian

Somebody educate me on this please.  

Will you still have the same authority and responsibility as a Sheriff's officer?  For instance, I continue hearing quips about "cop 24/7" in reference to the fact an officer is required to step in to a situation even though they are off duty.  

Aside from the obvious, what is the difference between a "regular cop" (for want of a better term...  Excuse my ignorance of the vernacular y'all use, as I am not involved with LE) and a "campus cop?"  Same powers of arrest on and off duty?  

I do not know about other states but here in Cali Police Officers that work for Community Colleges, State Colleges and State Universities are full on Peace Officers like any other municipality or county. They have 24/7 Peace Officer powers anywhere in the state just like any other cop. Some states have varying degrees of Peace Officers. Some only have powers of arrest during work or on the grounds of what ever facility they work. Our local Corrections Officers are this way. They only have powers of arrest on duty. Some states have the College Police set up more like we license security guards. Limited powers if any.

Everything varies from state to state.

In TX "campus cops" are the same as state troopers. They all go through an academy and are TCLOSE certified. Yes they can arrest you even though your not a student.....heard that before.

Quoted: In TX "campus cops" are the same as state troopers. They all go through an academy and are TCLOSE certified. Yes they can arrest you even though your not a student.....heard that before.

We all go through an academy and are all TCLEOSE certified as required. We are State Police officers in Texas, but are not the same as DPS Troopers. DPS Troopers, TABC Agents, Game Wardens, and other State Police agencies in Texas all got 18% pay increases across the board this fiscal year. We did not.

Troopers/TABC/GW's/etc all have full statewide police power and can arrest for anything at anytime. State Police officers on public college/university campuses have full jurisdiction in ANY county which the university/college they work for has property. In addition, we can arrest for any felony or breach of the peace anywhere in the state as required, just like all other TX LEO.

For example, I have full 24/7 jurisdiction in Dallas, Tarrant, Collin, Cooke, and Denton counties.
It's a good job. The only way I'm leaving is for a crapton more money, or a job back in Colorado where my fam/friends are...

I realize that, that got a huge pay increase because they haven't had one in a while and many many other agencies make a lot more. Later

Quoted: If all goes well I will be jumping from my Sheriff's Office to a better paying, better benefits, University Campus Cop job on the 12th. The cool part is that this is a brand new campus meaning an all-new agency. They are hiring 6 of us to be "Founding Officers". The Chief is very cool and pro-gun (at least as much as she can in a University setting. She wants rifles in all the cars ect). The Commander came from a neighboring SO and is a former SWAT team member. He and I hit it off just fine. Everyone is a lateral with special skill needed to put the department together. I was told that I am the only one with any Range Master experience (8 years) so I will be the department Range Master and Armorer. Chief wanted Sig 229's so that is what we got. She did not like the idea of putting lights on the guns until we had a long talk about it during my Chiefs interview. At the end of the talk she said that she might send the 229's back and get some 226's or 229's with rails so we can put lights on the guns. The Commander was very happy to hear that. Shotguns are Rem. 1187's with rifle sights. I hope they fit in the racks without damaging the sights. Already have TASERS and a few other toys. All in all it looks like a good move. Even my Sheriff said that if he were I he would take it and not look back Anyone here work on a college campus? I would like to hear some of the skinny before I go.

Rifles and Shotguns???

What kind of fuckin College is that ?@?#?%?$?#?

'

Quoted: Rifles and Shotguns??? What kind of fuckin College is that ?@?#?%?$?#? I call Total BS

You sound ignorant.

We are issued FN P90 full auto SMGs with EOTECH holosites (CIRT) and Wilson Combat Scattergun Technologies Remington 870's with ghostring sites.

I've also been in a fight, foot pursuit, vehicle pursuit (sort of) and made 100's of traffic stops and numerous arrests in the last few weeks. I work at a public university. There are over 32,000 students on campus. We have over 50 sworn personnel. We are 3 people down at the moment. We also have two dogs, one explosives, one narc, both are patrol trained and track/bite dogs who are CONSTANTLY called out for use by the "real cops" at the local municipalities and Sheriffs office. We had over 900 arrests last year. Most of our departmental warrants are felonies. We are the LOWEST paid State Police agency in Texas. We have 9 times the activity of the other major state university police department in our city. (There are two here).
When the City Police Department gets into overflow on their calls, they are sent to us. (Ask TXDO631, he works there and is in the process of moving to my agency).


All patrol officers are issued Sig P239's or HK USP .40's.





Do you need help getting that foot out of your mouth, Mr. Wizard?

I worked for a TX state university for 5 years before moving up to ND. Not a bad gig really. The benefits are hard to beat since they're state. The political game can get old but isn't as bad as all that.

Booze. lots and lots of booze. Some sexual assaults, most of the date rape variety. Assaults and disturbances. Loud noise complaints. basically everything you'd do at a muni PD. The only thing you have to overcome is the perception of not being "real" cops. There is a perception that campus PD are security. That gets shut down through the help of the academic deans supporting your decisions and re-enforcing your status during each semesters orientation. Probably wouldnt be a bad idea for the Chief to request that she get to speak at the orientations to lay out the ground work for the "don't fuck with us" attitude that you should have.

I hope you like directing traffic because graduation commencments SUCK. My last week with SHSU before moving on I directed traffic for 14 hours, 15 minute breaks in between commencement ceremonies. We did the High Schools as well as the Colleges. The temp got up past my badge number (114). I had to throw away a lot of stuff due to salt build up.

Summers are boring. Hopefully your Chief will set the groundwork for goodwill and cooperation with the City PD so that THEY take you seriously as well. Let you back up the city on calls so that they get to know your capabilities.

Good luck. Don't drive by the pools TOO much.

I gotta admit those P90's!

BAD ASS!

Quoted: Rifles and Shotguns??? What kind of fuckin College is that ?@?#?%?$?#?

Ever hear of an active shooter?

When you've got up to 700 people in one field of fire, there damn well better be some well armed guys around to look after the place. Its a friggin terrorist attack or nutjobs last stand waiting to happen.

I go to a private school, where the security guys are unarmed. Sometimes the PD patrols, but I think their response time would be several minutes in the daytime. Makes me feel kind of naked.

The head of security wears a belt thats MAYBE 1/2" wide. Maybe when you are used to carrying a pistol whenever you can, you notice these things. I mention this because there is probably no greater signal that one is unarmed than a belt that obviously couldn't handle a gun.

At least if some dude who always wanted to be like Charles Whitman climbs the Chapels steeple and goes to work, the cops here can......call for real cops.

Sorry about the rant. Up all night and not in a great mood.

Quoted: I work for a private college and yes the scenery is very nice.  From my experience the kids believe that real world rules/laws don't apply to them because it is "only college."  Some Fraternities are organized gangs that deal drugs to raise money.  They extort and intimidate other members of the campus community.  Drug induced rapes seem norm and now "Tagging" has become popular.  Tagging is when an unconscious (drugs or alcohol induced) female is stripped of her clothes, raped and then marked with permanent marker all over her body, redressed and dropped off somewhere.  If I have to interview one more 18 year old girl that can't remeber the last 4 hours of her night out I am going to go crazy.   There are plenty of good kids trying to get an education but you generally won't meet them.

The town where I live is also the town where my wife and I both went to college. There are two colleges in our town, one is a small state run coed college, and my school is a private, all-male, liberal arts college. Demographics are- my school- overall, very wealthy population (not me!), mostly WASP, 1000 or so students, highly conservative. Her school is higher female to male ratio, mainly WASP as well, but much more liberal. Main focus is on teaching, but with a rapidly expanding curriculum including recently added CJ. Drug and alcohol abuse is rampant at both, as probably is the case at any institute of "higher learning".

I was one of the (mostly) good kids you mention. I got to know the higher ups and many of hte officers at both departments, primarily through my involvment with the local volunteer Fire/EMS agencies. Also got to know most of the troopers and town cops, and some SO deputies. There's a lot of crossover between the various agencies. The chief of my school's department actually pointed me towards the agency where I applied and hopefully will get hired. I told him if I get hired/certified, I'll be happy to come back and work part time for big events if he wants.

+1 for politics, even at the public level. You're gonna have to let a lot more go than you're used to on the road. Of course, this depends on the school's attitude and the dept's chief. But when they start getting calls from the board of directors b/c so and so's daughter was arrested for a dimebag, don't think you won't at least feel the pressure.

+1 on the frat/drug connection. My school has a SERIOUS problem with illicit substances. Last year they busted a kid with 18 grams of cocaine, packaged for resale. That was a joint effort with the DEA. No, I did not exagerate my numbers. As a student, I've seen gallon ziploc bags full of coke at parties. Due to the large narcotic presense (yes they attempt to control it), alcohol is pretty much ignored. As long as you're not violently DIP, or DUI, you're told to pour it out and move on.

The colleges in my area have a really good inter-agency relationship with the other agencies. Most of the officers swap part time work between the agencies. If you're still local, you may be able to get shifts with your old SO. Depends on your situation, of course.

Dunno how the departments were armed, really. Never got around to asking about any long guns. They had Glock 22's and 23's in the holsters. Most part time officers were allowed to choose bewteen a wide range of POW's. However, as none of the agencies except the VSP in my area are big enough to afford/staff their own SWAT team, there is a regional conglomerate which draws officers and equipment from many agencies in two or three surrounding counties. This includes officers from the colleges. So I'm sure the equipment is out there.