We’ve all had this moment. You see them standing a few feet away with their arms against their hips in those tight, beige button ups with “Plymouth State University Police,” badges all over, gun on person, you know he or she is the police. You walk past them with butterflies in your stomach and put your head down so they don’t see you…even if you are sober.
Students act as though they cannot associate with the police and they should avoid them at all costs. At least once, someone has thought about calling UPD at a party that got too out of hand but didn’t make the call because they don’t want to get anyone in trouble (I.E. – the chainsaw incident last spring).
According to Officer Melanson of the UPD, “the university police should not be seen in this light and students should make the call if they feel unsafe.” The police may plaster cars with parking tickets and get kids in trouble for recreational drug use, but they are only doing their job. Without the university police the campus would see many more crimes than the student body sees already. Just a few years back we had a gunman on campus and although it turned out to be a hoax, UPD was there to take control and locked down campus so that no one was hurt.
Typically students are unaware of a crime unless they were associated with it or hear about it somehow. Melanson spoke of a few stories about the crime rate in Plymouth that were quite shocking. Although he was unable to give specific details, Melanson spoke about a drug bust on campus where a student was caught with heroin in his room. Although Plymouth’s campus is safe and homey, students don’t know everyone that they are walking with on these long brick paths. For this reason and other crimes at Plymouth, University Police “hope[s] that students pay more attention to their personal safety and develop a greater awareness of their surroundings.”
Although some students are ambivalent toward these authority figures, Melason and his staff want to emphasize that they’re here to help us. While many students put their heads down as they pass an officer, Mel McQuade, a senior, says she tried to give a wave or a smile, “I mean, sure they can arrest you, but they are just people doing their job,” adding, “I’d hate to come into work and have everyone I work for just hate me.”