Because Union is an open campus, there is always potential threat to safety.
But Yancey Pettigrew, director for safety, security and risk mitigation, said his department aims to offset those risks with a more capable staff.
“The instances of crime on campus are less than they would be out in town,” he said. “But the same people who have ill intentions outside ‘the bubble’ can easily come into ‘the bubble’ and attempt to do what they want to do.”
This semester, the campus security staff is going through training sessions in areas like CPR and first aid to be better equipped to do their jobs, Pettigrew said.
As always, there will be multiple officers on duty at all times. But from now on, there will also be armed shift supervisors, which Union has never had before.
“Most of our peer and aspiration schools and schools in the surrounding region have already gone to that model,” Pettigrew said. “We’ve been a little behind in that, but we’re fixing that now.”
New hires will be seasoned law enforcement officers, according to Pettigrew. He said the process of finding the right employees takes time, but in the mean time, members of the Jackson Police Department will help fill in the gaps.
The transition began over the summer, but the conversation with the executive council and board of trustees started long before, Pettigrew said.
“We decided that we want more coverage, more capability and better protection for the community,” Pettigrew said. “Until we have the people hired that we need, there’s a temporary contract with the JPD.”
Although Union is a private campus, members from the community occasionally drive through, visit the library or attend various events. Pettigrew said for this reason, JPD has always been welcome to drive through and patrol the campus.
With this new contract, police are encouraged to engage with students, faculty and staff to build bridges and learn more about the campus. Union’s safety and security team has built a stronger relationship with local law enforcement through this process as well.
“Before now, they had no reason to know what Luther Hall or Providence Hall or the PAC was—but now they do,” Pettigrew said. “So in the years to come when there’s an emergency, these police officers will know exactly where to go, what the building looks like and who’s in there.”
Students may notice more parking tickets or other traces of an increased police presence, but Pettigrew said JPD officers are not setting out to catch every instance of wrongdoing.
If something really stands out as unlawful, they will enforce it, but JPD has always had the right to ticket such violations, even on the private campus.
“If it’s a violation of the law, it’s a violation of the law out on the bypass and here on campus,” Pettigrew said. “If you have eight students hanging off a vehicle rolling 30 miles an hour through campus, they can expect to be pulled over.”
Pettigrew said 2015 is a dangerous time, and his primary goal is to consider threats students most likely don’t think about—petty theft, security of young women walking around at night and even active shooters.
“These aren’t things we sit around and dwell on all day long, but they are threats,” he said. “We’d rather be ahead of that than behind it.”
Pettigrew, who has held his position for about a year, said the transition is in good stewardship—the staff won’t rest after the transition is complete later this semester, but the process of improving will be constant. With hundreds, if not thousands, of people on campus at any given time, he said he wants his staff to be able to protect and serve campus patrons in the best ways possible.
At the same time, he remembers what it was like to be a college student but understands that there must be a balance between fun and safety.
“We don’t want the students, faculty and staff to think we’re out to get them—we’re out to serve them,” Pettigrew said. “We’re out to do our best to try to prevent harm from the outside world from happening to them. We want it to be a safe and orderly campus, but we want it to be a fun, enjoyable campus as well.”
