Top cop on campus
Archived article from Nov 3, 2003
Page 2 of 3
Focus: Are you planning any new initiatives to perhaps mobilize the student body to be more vigilant or to police itself more effectively?
Roberson: Yes, we have a program called the Community Service Officer. There are 65 officers, and I’m hoping to recruit another 50 for a one-week training class during the winter break. The students are paid a salary of $10 an hour. They dress in police uniforms and perform various functions to help make our campuses a safer place to live and go to school. We’ve deployed these student officers at athletic events, concerts, graduations and other large gatherings to check bags. Recently, we initiated a community crime watch with CSOs. They patrol College Avenue in pairs. They have radios and they function as the eyes and ears of the police department. We also employ them on a Community Crime Watch patrol in designated parking lots after dark as a crime deterrent. They do a great job.
Focus: How would you describe the relationships between the campus police and the New Brunswick and Piscataway police departments?
Roberson: Actually, you also have to include the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office and the N.J. State Police. Our relationships are extremely strong. We communicate regularly with New Brunswick officers on matters of mutual concern, such as the ongoing serial rapist investigation and the assault on College Avenue. These relationships have been developed over a long period of time. We have the same working relationship with Piscataway that we have with New Brunswick. I deal with Piscataway Chief Kevin Harris and his personnel on a regular basis. So do my detectives and the patrol force. We get together at meetings, we meet informally and maintain open lines of communication about current investigations and crime prevention. I couldn’t ask for a better relationship with Piscataway, New Brunswick, the prosecutor’s office and the state police.
Focus: Campus life presents new challenges — maintaining order at political rallies, for instance — that you may not have experienced as a state trooper. How do you prepare your officers for handling such sensitive matters?
Roberson: During my career in the state police, I served as a supervisor at some of the largest events in the state, so I have a lot of experience in event planning and preparation. This department has protocols in place that enable us to develop operational plans for any event on campus. Before an event takes place, we meet with all the participants within the college, event organizers and other police departments. “Israel Inspires” is a textbook example of cooperation involving Hillel, the university staff, the police department and Emergency Services. The operations plans developed by Deputy Chief Thomas Giordano were as good as any I’ve seen at the state and federal levels.
Focus: What are the unique challenges and benefits of working with a younger population?
Roberson: One of the challenges is that many students are away from home for the first time. Some are not aware of all the risks they can be subjected to, especially in terms of property theft and in not securing their belongings. They may not take the precautions that an older, more mature person might take. And, of course, we have the issue of alcohol with the younger population, especially if it’s their first time away from home. That’s a challenge. On the other hand, there are a lot of benefits, including working with the student government associations and young people who have fresh perspectives and exciting new ideas on how the community can be policed.
Focus: After President McCormick was mugged, a security officer wrote a letter to the editor of the Home News Tribune pointing out that a security officer near the site of the mugging had a triple post of 28 buildings and three parking lots to patrol. She claimed the security force was down to half the manpower it had five years ago. Is this true and, if so, what’s being done about it?
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