THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8.2005
Safety
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
lamps make him feel safer, he said. But he would like to see more patrol.
Two officers are patrolling the campus in cars at any given time, Bailey said.
A bike patrol or foot patrol would help increase officer's rapport with students and command a greater presence. Mack said.
Laura Winzenread, Edmond, Okla., senior, also said students would feel safer if they saw officers on foot patrol.
Now, public safety officers seem more like traffic officers than safety officers, she said.
"They need to be where the crime happens," she said. Wienrenread was referring to parking lots at GSP-Corbin and on Daisy Hill by the Lied Center where students have been threatened with guns and knives at least twice in the past two years.
She said it was not enough for the officers to simply drive through the parking lots.
Mack said officers could be doing more.
"They might be able to utilize what they have," Mack said. "They could at least get out of the car."
The office does not have any plans to add patrols in the near future. But the University is taking other measures to increase safety around residence halls and parking lots across campus.
The public safety office is trying to implement a new surveillance.
lance system on campus.
The cameras would first be installed in the parking lot around GSP and at the parking lot on Daisy Hill by the Lied Center, said Rhonda Birdsong, KU public safety office administrator.
Both locations have been the scene of crimes in the past few semesters, including two separate incidents where students were threatened with a knife.
Birdsong said she hoped the system would be up this year, but plans had not been approved.
Cutting back
Oliver said his initial reaction to budget cuts in the early 90s and again in 2001, was to decide what the office could and couldn't afford to lose.
About six officer and clerical positions were cut over the past few years, he said.
Operating expenses — the money that covers everything that isn't salary — were left alone.
Those expenses for the 2005 fiscal year is almost $290,000 and pays for the costs of uniforms, officer training, car maintenance and telephone and radio contracts.
The safety office spends at least $4,000 each month, approximately — 16 percent of the operating expenses — for gas and car repair, Oliver said. That increases as gas prices increases.
Operating expenses also cover emergency situations at the office. Last year, $35,000 was taken out of the account to repair damages after Carruth-O'Leary Hall, where the office operates, was struck by lightning.
While Oliver said he tried not to eliminate services entirely, some have been cut back so much that they're almost gone.
One example is the KU Bicycle Program. The program had five officers and one supervisor when it began in 1990.
Now the bike patrol is limited to home football games.
Some officers are interested in reviving the service, but Oliver said the office would have to hire at least four more officers before that could happen. The budget could not support even one more salary, he said.
Some Big 12 universities, such as Colorado and Missouri, have more extensive bicycle programs.
They are important on college campuses because they allow for more contact between students and officers, said Colorado's Lt. Tim McGraw and Missouri's Capt. Brian Weimer.
One KU service that is almost gone is a campus-wide lost-and-found program. In the past, all lost and found stations across campus worked directly with the safety office. Lost and found officials met on a regular basis, Bailey said.
People often notified officers if they had found something a wallet or keys. Now, Bailey said someone from the various lost and founds from buildings across campus dumps a box of lost items off at the safety office about once a month.
"It decreases the value of life for students," he said. "Now they call and you have to send students out looking for their things at different lost and founds."
Bailey would like to see the system revert to the way it was and expand the program to the Web.
But such changes would require more staff, which is something the office can't afford, Oliver said.
The Public Safety Office struggles to keep officers on staff.
Competing numbers
Oliver attributes a high turnover rate to non-competitive wages.
Nearby police departments, such as Eudora's and Shawnee's offer salaries that are anywhere from 4 to 20 percent higher than wages at the University, he said.
KU Public safety officers are paid around $28,000 if they are certified. That officer could make $3,000 to $7,000 more annually at police departments in nearby small towns. Oliver said.
It takes at least a year to train a new employee every time an officer leaves the program. Training takes trainees as well as experienced officers off the street.
About a year and a half ago, the safety office lost six officers, Oliver said though the officers were replaced, the office has just gotten back to the point it was at before they lost the officers.
And the turnover rate won't change until a remedy is found.
"Johnson County is killing us," Bailey said of losing officers to nearby towns.
Oliver said that in the early '80s the safety office offered salaries that were comparable to the Lawrence Police Department and other university safety programs.
Officers generally stay about two to three years at the KU Public Safety Office, Oliver said.
Stephanie Farlev/KANSAN
Officers are also paid about $38,000 to $42,000 depending on skill level. Though this is more expensive than a KU officer is paid, the cost of living is much higher in Boulder, Colo. McGraw said the department was in constant competition with surrounding departments.
Sgt. Bob Williams goes through recent campus incidents with Capt. Mark Witt and Officer David Haney at a police briefing in the KU Public Safety Office yesterday. The force goes through three briefings every day, one for each shift. The office has about 29 commissioned officers, which is six less than 10 years ago.
ropolitan area, McGraw said.
The police department at the University of Missouri also relies on current technology to retain officers.
He said his university's department paid somewhere in the middle of the salary spectrum of surrounding departments.
Laptops are in every patrol car at Missouri and cut down the time to file reports Weimer said.
Weimer said officers liked to work with the technology, and they valued it.
Other Universities
Missouri officers make approximately $31,500 plus benefits. Weimer said a higher salary is cheaper than constantly retraining officers.
Theresa Klinkenberg, the University's chief business and financial planning officer, is working with the safety office on the proposal.
"We'd like to keep good employees," she said.
Such a program would be University-funded and would supplement officers' salaries.
Other Big 12 safety programs rely on incentives to keep officers.
The State Civil Service System sets those salaries along with other positions included in a classified system like facility operations.
Though wages have increased because of the cost of living, Klinkenberg said it's been at least 10 years since the Legislature undated the system's base.
Colorado's public safety officers are allowed to work out for about an hour each shift. The department subsidizes memberships at an athletic club; and officers have to carry pagers with them in case they are needed while at the club.
Safety office officials met with Chancellor Robert Hemenway in December to discuss a possible solution to the high turnover rate, Oliver said.
Perks like this and an indoor shooting range keep officers from leaving the force for one of the 100-plus surrounding departments in the Denver met-
Though he couldn't discuss specific details, Oliver said he would like to have a retention incentive to keep officers on staff. Oliver would like a retention program in place within the next three years.
Getting the job done
He said he is worried about 2008, when about five or six experienced officers will be eligible to retire.
Oliver said he wasn't sure what he'd do if the chancellor denied the retention incentive.
For now, his focus remains on student safety. He will keep three officers patrolling at all times of the day. Though he'd like to see the program expand, he said all he could do was to maintain the level of service the KU Public Safety Office provides the University.
"We're operating under the restraint of what we have," Oliver said.
— Edited by Bill Cross and Ion Ralston.
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