University of Iowa police adding more student security officers

IOWA CITY - University of Iowa junior Delia Teichman is a self-professed night owl.

The biomedical engineering student from Fresno, Calif., said she scheduled her classes at night, but hitting the books isn't all she does when the sun goes down. Some nights, Teichman can also be found patrolling UI residence halls, as well as the university's Mail Library and Hardin Library for Health Sciences.

'It's been pretty tame, but it can get pretty wild some nights,” said Teichman, noting the dorms aren't bad, but students sometimes straddle the line between safe and unsafe behavior.

Teichman, 21, is part of a growing legion of student security officers employed by the UI Department of Public Safety. While university officials have relied on students in the past to staff the art museum, they are now beefing up their numbers and spreading them around campus, according to security supervisor Jonathan Ron.

'Since the fall, we've already hired about 65 students,” Ron said. 'We started with eight working the museum. ... We're hoping to get over 100.”

Ron said student security officers patrol the dorms looking for unusual activity, unauthorized visitors, medical issues or other misconduct. They've also been deployed to parking lots, campus buildings such as the libraries and Voxman Music Building and to athletic events.

'We try to keep them busy,” Ron said.

The students are unarmed and don't have any arrest capabilities. Each is outfitted with a radio connected to the UI police's dispatch center. Students are trained on CPR and other departmental protocols and procedures.

While increasing the student security numbers provides the department with more eyes and ears around campus, Ron said the greater purpose is building relationships with students, the top priority of Public Safety Director Scott Beckner.

Ron said the department did reach out to the criminology department when looking to hire students, but the student security officer program is much more diverse than people considering law enforcement careers.

'Our department is now as diverse as can be,” he said. 'From people doing pre-med to people doing their master's ... we get everything.”

The feedback of the program has been 'really good,” Ron said. The student body enjoys interacting with student security officers, and more campus entities are requesting coverage.

Ron said the students are paid $10 an hour and work part-time in accordance with university rules. The success of the program has prompted the UI to look into creating a supervisory role for students in the program.

Teichman acknowledges being a student security officer was a little intimidating at first.

'Now, it's just kind of the norm,” she said. 'I talk to other students in the hall. They get pretty curious about what I do. ... It's a little bit easier to talk with us. We're in the same shoes they are, being students and all. It's a little easier for them to understand when we're talking about being safe.”

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