Director of Public Safety Michael McNair organized two new programs aimed at encouraging students to join campus security: The Public Safety Aide Unit and the Public Safety Student Advisory Group.
The Public Safety Aide Unit will employ students as part of the campus security force, but McNair stresses that they will not take the place of sworn officers. The Public Safety Student Advisory Group includes representatives from campus organizations that meet monthly to discuss campus security issues.
"We need to have a partnership. It's about students and Public Safety working together to come up with solutions [to campus security issues]. If students are involved in the solution, then it will work," McNair said.
President Benjamin Ladner's cabinet has approved both of these programs. The Aide Unit is now recruiting and McNair says the first group of students will begin work on Nov. 1. The Advisory Group will hold its first meeting next Monday.
"The advisory board sounds like a good idea. It's good to have input in that," said Andrea Burzynski, a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs.
The Aide Unit is a supplement to the current Public Safety force, which McNair said includes about 30 members. They are all sworn officers who have undergone training at the University Police Training Academy run by the D.C. Consortium of Universities.
He said that it is important to emphasize that the students in the Aide Unit are not police officers and will not be charged with the full responsibilities of a certified officer. They will carry radios and handle basic security matters, like routine patrol of the campus.
They will wear distinctly different uniforms from full officers and will not be allowed to make arrests, write police reports, carry badges or otherwise represent themselves as a police officer.
McNair said that by taking over routine duties, the Aide Unit will allow officers to spend more time on duties that require sworn police officers.
However, some students don't like the idea.
"I just think it's asking for bad news," said Max Bender, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences. "Even now, with students and RAs there's a lot of animosity. No kids would take them seriously."
The Advisory Group includes two to three representatives from the GLBTA Resource Center, Park Bethesda, Tenley Campus, Interfraternity Council, Pan-Hellenic Association, AU Ambassadors, Residence Hall Association, Woman's Initiative, student athletes and the Student Confederation.
The group will provide feedback about Public Safety initiatives and seek solutions to security problems.
McNair said he looks forward to the opportunity to talk directly to students.
"What I enjoy most is working with the community and getting their ideas on what kinds of things are important to them as far as security issues. To me it's not work, it's really enjoyable," he said.
McNair has met with organizations on campus to inform them of the programs and ask for their input and approval. The General Assembly voted to support the Advisory Group on Oct. 17 and will vote on the Aide Unit on Oct. 31.
GA Speaker Richard Bradbury appreciates McNair's efforts to seek the SC's input.
"It shows a commendable dedication to working with the students, which we'd like to see happen more often with the administration," Bradbury said.
McNair said the inspiration for the new programs came from similar ones at the University of Maryland where he worked before he joined AU last spring. He said the programs were effective there and pointed out that AU is the only university in the D.C. metropolitan area that does not have a student component to its security force.
"There's no way that students can lose with these programs. It's a win-win situation," McNair said.
