By: Sarah O’Connor, Staff Writer
The International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA) orchestrated an audit report this summer for the USM Police Department. Between May 21 and 24, the Loaned Executive Management Assistance Program (LEMAP) helped USM in evaluating their police, security and public safety programs. Buster Neel, Interim Chief Business Officer, described that the audit was requested by USM for prevention of future issues.
“The Portland campus is going to go through dramatic changes in the future, and we’re trying to prepare for that and how we’re going to handle the planning for that as a budget issue,” Neel said, referring to President Glenn Cummings’ master plan to construct a performing arts center and dorms on the Portland campus.
Several problems were addressed in the audit, including staffing levels, lack of training, policy unclarity and a lack of communication within the department and with the the Gorham and Portland police departments.
Staffing levels proved to be the biggest issue considering its constant reappearance throughout the report. Neel discussed how the budget changes have created a significant impact, with a loss of five officers. To alleviate a large structural deficit, the department’s administrative and supervisory staffing was dismantled.
Former Chief Kevin Conger said there was a lack of funds to provide necessary training in the audit report. The LEMAP Team recommended investing “in a full-time training coordinator for the department” and specific training and learning management systems for training modules.
One of the plans for the future is to add another position to the USM police department. According to Neel, adding a visible presence in the library in the first floor of Glickman Library near the circulation desk area will hopefully prevent disturbances on the Portland Campus.
“This will offer more visibility for the USM police on campus,” Neel said.
Claire Madsen-Bibeau, a freshman living on the Gorham campus, thinks that having a strong police presence is important for protection and peace of mind, but she does not want to see it go too far.
“I don’t want some random dude or girl to be able to come in and shoot people,” Madsen-Bibeau said. “It shouldn’t be a crazy amount of police, but it should feel like we are protected.”
Ally Duley, a freshman commuter, thinks the opposite. She said that a police presence “could cause more harm than good.”
“People would be more on edge, and college would be made more stressful than it already is,” she said.“The recent accounts of police brutality definitely have an effect on how the police are viewed, including by myself.”
According to Neel, along with increased protection, a benefit of the audit is the potential to improve communication. The audit report highlighted a disconnect between the local police departments and the campus police and also the campus community and the campus police. The audit noted, “There is very little interaction between the [police departments]” and “The LEMAP Team identified a major disconnect with student-based programming and understanding the mission of campus public safety.”
Neel said that, in light of the audit, communication has already become a priority. Monthly meetings are taking place for the first time since 2007. The department is also going to be going on a national search for a new police chief, and USM is in negotiation for the possibility for federal funding for new positions.
“We’re working on how we’re structuring and managing ourselves internally,” Neel said.
The restructuring has been focused on making the USM police a community presence. Neel hopes that in the future, USM students feel a connection with the officers and trust them. As the audit proposed, USM hopes to include student government leaders in establishing a community presence by making clear goals and a mission statement.
Madsen-Bibeau thinks communication between the campus police and students is crucial in crime prevention on campus. On the other hand, Duley thinks it would “set students on edge” and create “overreactions to things they hear in passing.”
Between police departments, the audit noted the confusion and lack and clarity between officers and dispatchers. Neel stated that the USM police currently works with the Gorham and Portland police departments, and there is a foundation for a stronger partnership between the police departments. While the departments call each other for help in certain situations, mostly in Gorham, there still needs more work to be done to build a relationship, according to the audit report.
This relationship seems necessary as there are less than 10 officers total in the USM police department, according to Neel. The small staff raises the question of whether or not USM should look into a hybrid solution of employing a security staff to work with the sworn officers to help lessen the burden on the small staff. The audit highlights many of the issues that has occurred including having two managing sergeants as shift supervisors, but the obvious issue is that there are three shifts. If there is a student that parks in the Portland parking garage past 11 p.m., an officer must drive from Gorham to help the student.
While the USM police department is understaffed, the challenge and huge hurdle for making changes is budgetary issues. The problem of understaffing came to be because of budgetary issues, and those issues persist today. At USM, the starting hourly salary for officers is roughly $15 per hour, whereas at another department or larger institution, it could be closer to $25.
Despite the budget issues still in play, the audit has prodded USM into action. Neel says that the main goal of the audit was to try to be proactive about the current situation and to understand where USM is regarding safety. Because of the action to get an audit for the USM police department, the university has more clarity on the situation as changes are soon to come.
“The easiest thing to do sometimes is to sit back and do nothing, but that’s not good enough for the USM student body. Let’s be prepared. Let’s be proactive,” said Neel.