Public Safety program walks on the side of caution

The Department of Public Safety has expanded the scope of its escort service and is seeing an increasing number of student requests for its use.

During the 2004-05 academic year, department statistics show, 3,943 requests for the service were answered. In the current school year, that number was surpassed before the end of Winter Session.

The free Public Safety program provides an escort for students, faculty and visitors walking to any location on campus. The service is available during the hours of darkness every night of the week.

“The tragic incident involving Lindsey Bonistall had a big impact on the increase in requests for this service,” Chief James J. Flatley, director of public safety, says. “We have expanded the area in which we provide this service, and I believe that our efforts to inform our community about this service have been successful.”

Ms. Bonistall, a sophomore English major, was killed by an intruder in her apartment near campus in May 2005.

A suspect has been charged and is in custody.

An escort can be requested by calling (302) 831-2222 or by using one of the more than 200 blue light emergency phones located across the campus.

“We hired additional student police aides because of the increased demand for escort services, and they also are used in other capacities,” Flatley says. “The busiest days for escort requests are Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.”

Public Safety student employees primarily serve as escorts, while full-time security guards and police officers may be used when demand for escort service is high, he says.

Student police aides handle a variety of tasks, serving as dispatchers in the Public Safety communications center and patrolling campus residence halls and other buildings.

“We try to carry about 40 to 50 student police aides,” Sgt. Robert Simpson, coordinator of the special services unit, says. “They are a very hard-working group, and I can’t give them enough credit.”

Duties assigned to student police aides also include patrolling at UD’s Downtown Center in Wilmington and the Morris Library commons area during overnight hours and checking IDs at various entrances to the Christiana Towers. Student police aides also work concerts, athletic competitions and other special events at UD.

The aides undergo about 10 hours of mandatory training at the start of each semester and receive regular updates pertaining to their individual assignments and group mission.

“We enjoy a great interaction, and we work to keep our student employees up to date on their duties while answering any questions they might have,” Simpson says. “We try to motivate them and be consistent in letting them know what we want them to accomplish.”

Joelle Forester, AS ’07, a student police aide and psychology/education major, says she enjoys talking with the many students she meets while on duty.

“I like the people I meet and the people that we serve, and I have used the escort service myself,” Forester says. “Most people you meet are pretty friendly, and they are appreciative of what you are doing for them.”

Working for Public Safety also has changed the way she views members of the law enforcement community, she says. “I am amazed at the many different things that the police do here at UD,” Forester says. “I also have learned that police officers are not out to intimidate people.”

Norell Manning, AS ’07, an English major and two-year student police aide, says she was unaware of the program until she found it during an online job search.

It’s not unusual for student police aides to answer as many as 50 calls a night during peak request periods, Manning says, which gives her ample opportunity to talk to people she would not have met otherwise.

“You also get the satisfaction of knowing that you are out there helping someone safely get to where they wanted to go,” she says.

Being a student police aide for nearly two years has given her newfound respect for police officers, Manning says.
Eduardo Ramirez, AS ’07, a math major, has served as a student police aide for nearly four years, including three years as a supervisor.

“The program has definitely grown in the time that I have been here,” he says. “The number of foot patrols has doubled, and we have added two more escorts as well as getting a van.”

A typical evening shift on a busy Saturday begins at 7 p.m. and usually ends about 3:30 a.m., Ramirez says. “Doing this is a lot of fun,” he says. “You see new people and also see the same people every weeknight.”

Ramirez, who used his computer savvy to convert some of the department’s vintage software from the 1980s to a more modern format, also uses his language skills when a Spanish-English-speaking translator is needed.

“There are not many police officers in Newark who speak Spanish,” he says. “When I serve as a translator, it makes it easier for everybody involved because everybody knows what is going on.”

— Jerry Rhodes, AS ’04