Miami Student

Issue date: 4/13/07 Section: Community

Miami University Police efforts to enhance student-officer relations on campus have led officers to include jump-start students' cars and lend money to students.

Miami University Police officers hope that when walking into the station right off State Route 73, visitors will encounter a different feeling than most police stations.

Under the guidance of current Police Chief John McCandless, the station has taken the initiative to play a positive, yet disciplinary, role in Miami students' lives.

The station was built in 2000 and McCandless was appointed in June 2004, so MUPD has a sense of youth in its atmosphere, according to McCandless.

And along with his appointment, McCandless desired to carry his philosophy of service to the Miami community.

"I certainly inherited a great department in the first place," McCandless said. "But it's the little things that we like to do to make the people we serve more comfortable. Our focus is to be
customer-service orientated."

Miami senior Jamie Beyersdorfer experienced MUPD's initiative of positive student relations when she received a parking ticket outside the Shriver Center at the end of the fall 2006 semester.

"(The MUPD officer) was writing me a parking ticket, but he said that he would make it $15 instead of $25 because it was Christmas time," Beyersdorfer said. "I was still (upset) that he was writing me a ticket."

McCandless said he agreed that despite the station's focus on compassion, the MUPD officers are still forceful and maintain overall safety for the students.

"At the end of the day, we still have to arrest students for underage intoxication," McCandless said. "In my mind, we try to treat people with respect and dignity. When people break the law (in Oxford), it is because they made a bad decision. We like to turn these incidences into teachable moments also."

Besides the typical underage drinking arrests and tickets for which campus police are infamous, McCandless said MUPD is pleased to go beyond the call of duty and help in situations such as jump-starting students' cars and even lending money to students.

MUPD Captain Jason Willis said the department as received many comments of appreciation from students and parents.

"(MUPD) get(s) letters from students and parents all the time thanking us for our help," Willis said. "We put them all up on (a) board so all the officers can read them. It fits in well with what we're all about here."

Continued...

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