This force is with you

By Jo McCulty University police are the primary enforcement agency for many special events on campus, including OSU home football games in Ohio Stadium.

OSU Police place emphasis on community policing

Ohio State Police Chief Ron Michalec is taking that same small-town approach toward policing personified by Sheriff Taylor of TV's Andy Griffith Show. And he's applying it successfully on a college campus -- a community that's larger than the fictional Mayberry, USA.

Michalec has committed his 69-member force to community policing, which requires the perfect blend of toughness to enforce the law and compassion to assist with citizens' everyday problems.

"When I'm looking to hire someone, I'm looking for someone who likes people," Michalec said. "It's easy to teach someone to shoot a gun, but you can't teach a person to like people."

He's also assembling a work force that can relate to the diverse population at Ohio State, with five recent minority hires -- two of them Ohio State graduates, one a current OSU student and two others college graduates -- and 16 representatives of minority groups overall. The department has been especially active recruiting through Student Safety Services and the Community Service Officers program.

Michalec joined the OSU Police Department as deputy chief in 1991, after serving as police chief in Hudson for 10 years.

A typical work weekend in Hudson would consist of handling traffic offenses, teen-age misdemeanor offenses and providing crowd control for high school football. Compare that to a typical weekend on the Ohio State campus. University police on the weekend of Oct. 13 were the primary enforcement agency for the OSU-Wisconsin football game that attracted more than 102,000 fans to Ohio Stadium, the Elton John concert at Value City Arena, and a home OSU hockey game, along with several other smaller events.

Michalec finds the ever-changing student population, and the fact that national issues usually are mirrored at Ohio State, to be stimulating aspects of his work. But campus policing has its challenges.

"In a municipal setting, you are the enforcement arm, but in a university setting you have the dual responsibility of enforcement and proprietary function," Michalec said.

Crime prevention presentations are an integral part of Police Chief Ron Michalec's duties.     By Kevin Fitzsimons

The overall mission of the University Police Department is three-fold: crime prevention; investigation and detection; and order maintenance for numerous special events. The department is a full-service agency comprised of 56 sworn officers and 13 civilian staff. Five of those officers are detectives who deal with complex, long-term investigations.

The department serves as an information center, and offers crime prevention services; surveillance and/or protection at University Hospitals Clinics and University Hospitals East; and surveillance at the OSU airport and golf course. Officers also are extending services to include mutual aid with the Columbus Division of Police on Friday and Saturday nights to provide a neighborhood patrol and burglary prevention unit for the area east of High Street, between 7th Avenue and Clintonville, Michalec said.

A new program, University Area Crime Stoppers, was set up by University Police this year to offer rewards for tips that help solve acts of vandalism, burglary, theft from autos or similar types of crimes in the campus area.

Michalec has seen many changes during a law enforcement career that began in 1972. For one, the public perception of police as an adversary -- dating back to the 1970s -- has slowly evolved into more of a facilitator.

"We're starting to see people are relying on us as problem solvers," Michalec said. "You can either help the person, or you find the person who can."

Police are asked to do a lot of things on campus that aren't police related, such as assisting a professor locked out of a building or car. In return, contacts are made and citizens become crime solvers by being the eyes and the ears of the police, Michalec said.

But law enforcement has changed markedly since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon, and the ensuing "War on Terrorism."

"We're going to be the first responders for anything that happens on campus," Michalec said.

University police are investigating any types of threats or perceived threats and fielding potential tips on terrorism and terrorist activity. While terrorism is an evolving field, Michalec said a federally sponsored Weapons of Mass Destruction training program he and a fellow officer attended last year gave them insight as to what they might face in the event of a terrorist attack. They then conducted in-service training for Ohio State officers.

The heroic rescue efforts of police and fire departments in New York that followed the Sept. 11 attacks have had a trickle-down effect here.

"Unfortunately, because of that tragedy, we're riding a crest of the fame that's been obtained because of those events," Michalec said. "Hopefully, the officers won't rest on their laurels and will continue to serve the community."

Michalec said that prior to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, preventing or dealing with possible domestic violence at Ohio State was the major concern, based on repeated incidents occurring nationwide. University Police, in partnership with the offices of Human Resources, Legal Affairs, and the Faculty and Staff Assistance Program, created a program that deals with behavior or relationships that, left unchecked, could result in violent crime or disruptive behavior, Michalec said. Two ad hoc committees were formed to review individual cases and determine the appropriate course of action.

But still, it's the little services that officers perform that count, like helping a homeless person or assisting on a lockout of a car.

"It really helps you promote the image of the department, and may result in a crime being solved down the road," Michalec said.

The department is not without recognition -- best illustrated by the selection of Lt. Al Washer to serve at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, one of only seven officers from Ohio selected. Capt. Joe Gaynor captured four gold medals and one silver medal in the swimming competition at the Ohio Police and Fire State Games, held June 14-24.

It also has its share of traditions, best illustrated when new officer Brian Thompson had his badge pinned on by his father, retired OSU officer Dave Thompson, at a swearing in ceremony on June 14.

However, Michalec said the greatest testimonial is the department's handling of three major events back to back during the summer of 2000 -- the Communications Workers of America Local 4501 strike, the African-American Heritage Festival and summer commencement -- without any major incidents.

"Within a four-week period this group, with no outside help, were able to pull it off," Michalec said.

He said he fields calls daily from citizens complimenting officers for unexpected services, like letting them into locked cars.

"They do the day-to-day and the extraordinary, extraordinarily well," he added.

University Police can be reached for nonemergency services at 292-2121.

Student Affairs restructures

Some familiar faces in Student Affairs are appearing under new hats. And a lot of hats are now under new umbrellas. It's part of the division-wide restructuring process begun by Bill Hall when he was named vice president for student affairs in June.

The new structure is outlined in an organizational chart, which can be found at www.osu.edu/units/stuaff/index.php. Direct-service operations are organized into six clusters of related units. Administrative and support functions have been consolidated into two areas:

The former unit of Housing, Food Services and Event Centers has been abolished, along with the assistant vice president position previously held by Hall, and its functions have been redistributed among the new clusters. The areas formerly supervised by Assistant Vice President Mary Daniels, who has retired, have also been redistributed. Through attrition and reassignment of existing staff, the division expects annual savings of about $300,000, while providing better coordinated services.

Student Affairs, which employs 975 staff members and 2,240 student employees, has an annual budget of $105 million, of which $90 million is in earnings operations.

"All of the changes are designed to help us better serve students and to make the most effective use of our resources, especially the talents of our staff," Hall said. "The restructuring process, which involved wide consultation throughout the division, allowed us to take a critical look at how well we were meeting our goals and how we could better organize ourselves to take advantage of the synergies and economies that come from close contact among related areas."

Under the new structure, individuals will hold the following leadership titles:

• Bill Schwartz, associate vice president for resource and facilities management.

• Richard Hollingsworth, associate vice president for planning and student development.

• Xen Riggs, assistant vice president for campus activities and events and director of the Jerome Schottenstein Center.

• Diane Whitbeck, assistant vice president for hospitality and conference services.

• Eric Busch, assistant vice president for student success services.

• Becky Parker, assistant vice president for diversity enrichment services.

• Steve Kremer, assistant vice president for housing and residence education and director of housing.

• Barbara Rich, assistant vice president for community development.

• Lisa Tochtenhagen, special assistant for development.

• Ruth Gerstner, special assistant for communications.

• John Kleberg, special assistant for risk assessment.

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