Chief of police Martin Williamson was a guest speaker at the Associated Students Inc. weekly meeting to give a campus police update on Friday, Feb. 7.
Chief Williamson noticed that crime is significantly becoming worse on campus. According to Williamson, student arrests and other student related issues on campus doubled last year. In order to prevent the situation from becoming worse, Williamson wants campus police to be more involved in responding to student problems. To solve the issues, Williamson wants to obtain another officer, two officers to be available 24/7, and an additional officer for the dorms.
Williamson wants ASI to fund money for a rape aggression defense training program which will be at no cost for students. The R.A.D. training will provide students the skills to protect themselves against an active shooter. The training is for students to feel safe and secure on campus.
Stephanie Campos, the Director of School and Social Sciences and Education, has attended a R.A.D. training in the past.
“The training informs you about strategies to use in different places such as, the library or in classrooms and objects to protect yourself with,” Campos said.
Another issue Williamson wants students to be aware of is the change of campus police phone numbers. The phone number 654-6277 is the non-emergency line and the phone number 654-2111 is the dispatcher line.
“Things are changing on campus and we want to get ahead before things get worse,” Williamson said.
ASI plans to send three ASI members to attend the Hill conference in Washington D.C. to learn about lobbing and to gain experience on a national field. ASI would like to attend this conference because it will benefit them by learning new techniques ASI hopes to benefit by learning new ways to become more active on campus.