Have you ever been scolded by a mall cop for remaining in one area too long (he’ll call it loitering), or driving too fast in the parking lot? No doubt you just shrugged it off and said, “What’s he going to do? He’s not a real cop. He has no actual powers of
authority.”
Students may have the same conception of the USM Police Department, that they are university cops, or rent-a-cops, with no real legal authority.
Not the case.
The USMPD is a real, Academy certified police department, with as much legal authority as Portland, Gorham, or any other municipal police department. Yes, they carry guns.
Many members of USM’s police force have had previous experience at other police departments, and law enforcement agencies. One officer even served as a member of the Secret Service under President George H. W. Bush. Chief of Police Lisa Beecher spent 21 years with the Portland Police Department
before coming to the university nine years ago.
These are no mall cops.
“This department is as professional and diverse as any department would want to be,” says Michael LeBlanc, a 30-year veteran of the Kennebunk force who joined the USM police this year.
USM’s population, which includes about 14,000 students, faculty, and staff, is as diverse as any city. But the compactness of
a university and the constant flux of different students from year to year make it a unique community for a police department to serve.
The Bedford Street location will be torn down to make way for a new building to house the police force in Portland. No time table has been set as to when this will occur.
USM’s population, which includes about 14,000 students, faculty, and staff, is as diverse as that of any city. But the compactness of a university and the constant
flux of different students from year to year make it a unique community for a police department to serve.
“There’s a lot to learn about working in this kind of community,” says Beecher. “It takes a special kind of person to not only do what municipal police officers do, but also to acclimate to the uniqueness (of a university).”
In addition to law enforcement and security functions, Beecher and the rest of the police force strive to make positive connections with USM students, faculty and staff. They work closely with other departments on campus such as Residential Life, Health Services, Counseling Services, the Dean’s office, and others, in a combined effort to deal with campus issues before they become problems. “In a university setting, it’s almost like you have twice as much of a good thing,” says LeBlanc.
The philosophy of the USM Police Department isn’t to show up on the scene of an incident and arrest the bad guys, but rather to take advantage of the university’s many in-house support systems to take a more community related, preventative approach to law enforcement.
“With most (police) departments,” says USM officer Daniel Peterson, “by the time you get a call for service, whatever has happened has already happened, and you’re trying to find out why.”
Peterson says that in a university setting when a call for service comes in, a lot of the time they can actually diffuse the situation, simply because someone’s college career may be on theline.
A valuable tool that the university police departmentutilizes is USM’s Student Conduct
Code. Officer Peterson describes the code as “a set of sub-laws that you can use to point someone back in the correct direction before they get involved in the legal process.”
It’s basically a “three strikes, you’re out” system. If a student repeatedly steps out of line, the USM Police will, as Peterson puts it, “invite them to leave” the university.
Some of the most frequent violations that the department sees on the USM Portland and Gorham campuses include smoking in inappropriate areas, parking related issues, thefts, criminal mischief, assaults, and harassment.
“The number of OUI arrests on the Gorham campus has gone up just about every year,” says Peterson. “Yes, we are serious about it. If you drink and drive you will go to jail and we will prosecute you.”
In the event of an incident that the department feels is a continued safety risk to the entire university, a Campus Safety Alert will be issued in an attempt to help the USM community be more aware of their own personal safety. In the first two weeks of this semester, two Campus Safety Alerts were issued. One involved a young woman who was
pushed up against a building wall in Gorham by a strange man late at night, the other is being labeled as a “hate crime” and involved homophobic comments and even the threat of a gun by the perpetrator. (See hate crime, pg 1)
Beecher feels that many crimes committed on campus are unreported. She urges the community to come forward when crimes are committed or when they see something suspicious.
“We really do care about this campus community,” Beecher says. “I want them to feel comfortable picking up the phone and calling us, and know that they are not bothering us. That’s our job.