Patrolling the campus on daily routine, police officers are finding ways to become more interactive with students and keep an extra eye on the school premise. Due to the fact there are hundreds of college students everywhere, we are on an open campus, and recent assaults, police are being more alert.
“We have always had police patrolling the campus but we are trying to make them more visible. We ask the officers to get out of their car and walk around when they get the opportunity,” Mike Trevis, Chief of Police, said.
There is a sense of disconnection when officers only patrol from their car. Not only that, but different things are seen from in a car as oppose to being on foot. There is less of a chance an individual will come up and report something suspicious they saw, Trevis said.
Officers are going to be walking between buildings, down the halls, and observe bathrooms. Areas that have high activity will be concentrated on and in any place that have the predictability of something happening. All together though, attention is given everywhere evenly, Trevis said.
“It is definitely a good idea to have cops patrolling the campus. The more security, the safer it is here. I know there have been a couple incidents and they can basically happen anywhere. There are things that can happen in a second and they might keep happening,” Diego Garcia, fire science major, said.
It has been traditional for officers to focus patrol on the parking lots because they surround the school. With police on the outskirts of school they can see who comes in and out of the school and keep an eye out for any questionable people, Trevis said.
“There are emergency poles everywhere, but they are too scattered apart. Something can happen, but then we’re out of reach of pushing the help button. The assaults don’t even happen at night anymore,” Vanessa Durand, philosophy major, said.
The ‘E poles’ around campus were installed nine years ago, but police are looking around for locations of any new poles. The only problem is, it costs the school roughly $10,000 for the purchase and installation of a single pole, Trevis said.
There should be a police officer in the hallways and definitely one in every building. If the school does not have enough officers, some should come from Gardenia or Torrance Police Department to help the safety of our school, Durand said.
“There should be police everywhere, especially in the areas where the assaults have happened. Officers should be near the gym and pool because that is where a lot have happened, Maria Ocho, business administration major, said.
The main focus for police officers now is to become more visible on campus. It will give a sense of safety to all the students.
El Camino will not be loosing any officers. Public safety will not be impacted by the budget at all. There can be no price tag on someone’s safety, Trevis said.
Anyone can call the campus police at anytime. Someone is on campus 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If anyone notices something suspicious, call an officer and they will check it out. If it turns out to be nothing, no harm was done, no one is in trouble. The call can be anonymous, so do not be afraid, Trevis said.
“Like it says on the newspaper stands, 22,000 people, 44,000 eyes. Safety is everyone’s responsibility. All we need to do is work together,” Trevis said.
