Students may soon be receiving protection from fellow students as part of a security patrol proposal that is in the works.
Jake Toloso, a former Student Senate legislative assistant, helped propose having a team of six students patrol the campus at night, while people are “still moving around from class.”
Patrollers would be placed in designated areas to look for suspicious activities and report them to the LSUPD, said Toloso.
Toloso said the student patrol would not be responsible for gestures such as walking students to their cars, but would act as a reinforcement to LSUPD to decrease instances of theft and vandalism.
Student security would not patrol the dorms and the surrounding areas, because Residential Assistants are in charge of the security of those areas. Instead, student patrollers would guard the academic quad areas, Toloso said.
The student patrol could employ 21 to 25 students, Toloso said.
“It’s a great opportunity for students considering a career in criminal justice or police-related work,” Toloso said.
Student patrolling was instituted in the 1970s, but there were flaws in the system because students were given keys to the buildings. Toloso said desks and computers were subsequently missing.
In the proposed security program, student patrollers would not be given keys, Toloso said. However, they would have radios to report activities.
LSUPD has agreed to offer a training course for student security participants to complete before they begin patrolling, Toloso said. The course will consist of four or five hours of instructions on the “proper way to contact LSUPD and keep students safe.”
No one from LSUPD was available to to comment before press time.
Toloso said crime on campus is “not a big problem,” and that crime rates have decreased over the past four or five years. But he said the rate of decrease could be higher.
“People have relaxed since the accused serial killers have been caught,” Toloso said. “Just because people are in custody does not make it a safe environment.”
Toloso said having patrollers in the area would make people less likely to commit crime.
Toloso said the positions for the student patrol could be filled by juniors and seniors who are not necessarily going into policing careers. There will be an application and interview process and the most suited students will be chosen for the positions, he said.
Federal work study, chancellor’s aid, student-assessed fees and different grants are being considered as possible sources for income of the student security patrol.
Toloso said he believes the best source would come from federal work-study, money granted to the University that is used to pay students to fulfill positions on campus.
SG President Brad Golson said he would love to to see the proposal put into action in the the fall because it is an “incredible opportunity.” He said work to implement the proposal will begin this summer.
Golson said the feasibility and details of the proposal still need to be finalized.