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JSU Home » UPD Home » About Us » Department Goals
The University Police Department provides a diverse and highly visible range of public safety services designed to reduce crime, protect life and property, and support Jacksonville State University in the accomplishment of its institutional mission. As a customer-oriented service provider, the professional staff utilizes innovative law enforcement programs as well as established community-policing techniques to provide a full range of services to the campus community, as well as to the larger Jacksonville community.
Goal - Provide a safe and secure campus environment that allows the University to perform it's mission.
Objective: 1.1
Provide a safe and secure environment for students, staff, faculty and visitors on campus.
Strategy / Assessment/ Success Criteria
Initiate crime prevention programs that include campus housing, athletics, and the general campus. Increase and improve the quality of informational presentations, orientations, and the Adopt-A-Dorm program to students residing in campus residence halls and Fraternities on most common occurring crime. Include personal protection information for university employees and students through daily crime logs and annual Clery reports. Inform and involve the entire campus community in crime prevention issues and crime prevention programs. Reduce the crime rate in specific areas of violent crimes and thefts. Reduce the overall crime rate on campus.
Status: Ongoing Person(s) Responsible: Chief Giddy
Objective 1.2
Seek to improve the overall capability of the University Police Department by replacing student dispatchers with sworn and experience police officers. This will reduce training deficiencies and lower the high turnover rate resulting in a mature and more professional point of contact for the University Community in both emergency and non-emergency situations.
Strategy / Success Criteria
Seek approval to fund six sworn officer positions through funds that are generated by the decal sales and parking fines. Request and receive those funds for UPD personnel budget. Replacement of student dispatchers can be accomplished by hiring sworn officers into the positions as they are vacated by the student workers over a period of time. Dispatch will then be assigned as a patrol function. Dispatch, once manned by certified police officers, will better serve the University Community at this critical function with their knowledge and experience. The UPD will then be able to better cover special events such as sporting events, graduation, etc by using the certified officers to man the requested post by the administration. The funding for student workers can then be used to meet increasing demand for services at special events where non-sworn personnel are needed for parking enforcement and ticket collection.
Status: Ongoing Person(s) Responsible: Chief Giddy
Objective 1.3
Provide a safe and secure environment through motorized police patrols, automated police management systems, and computer-assisted dispatching. Improve the campus community crime prevention programs.
Strategy / Assessment / Success Criteria
Improve the crime prevention program targeting the most vulnerable populations. Work closer with the judicial Coordinator in assuring judicial hearing is held for students who violate the JSU student code of conduct. Purchase of new vehicles should have begun during 2005/2006/2007/2008, and annually thereafter for patrol operations. UPD did receive a new patrol car in February 2010. Current fleet is aging rapidly and will require a purchase/replacement of all vehicles in a couple of years. Officers and police managers need to use an automated police management system to better report and analyze crime incidents and trends. Receive increased funding to cover increases in operational costs such as fuel, maintenance, training, safety equipment, uniforms, parking ticket writers, power supply, paper ticket rolls, and other supplies such as decals. Receive funding for police computer upgrades.
Status: Ongoing Person(s) Responsible: Chief Giddy
Objective 1.4
Provide funding for the inspection and maintenance of JSU fire extinguishers in all JSU owned buildings.
Strategy / Assessment / Success Criteria
Safeguard Fire & Alarm Company received the bid in 2007 and replaced all fire extinguishers in University building in 2008. The JSU Physical Pant stated that fire extinguishers for new buildings are covered in the bid price. Funding is requested to pay for the inspection and replacement of fire extinguishers through Safeguard. The estimated annual maintenance contract is $3,968.00
Status: Ongoing Person(s) Responsible: Chief Giddy
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Objective 1.5
Upgrade aging fire and intrusion alarm systems on campus.
Strategy / Assessment / Success Criteria
Several fire and intrusion upgrade proposals have been forwarded for consideration. Recommend the University Administration update the Life Safety Survey proposal from Jack R. Morgan Engineering (initiated by JSU Maintenance). Benham Security has stated they would not want to be involved with the fire safety systems due to the advance age and propriety of the current systems. Housing has received funding for the dorm systems, but funding is needed for the academic buildings.
Status: Ongoing Person(s) Responsible: Chief Giddy
Objective 1.6
Seek to improve the ability of the UPD to provide services to the public by generating funding from an outside source to assist with equipment purchases such as vehicles, supplies, and technology.
Strategy / Assessment / Success Criteria
Seek assistance in passing a bill in the Senate, House, and then signed into law by the Governor of Alabama entitled the "JSU Public Safety Fund." The bill would require each court office in Calhoun County to collect an additional $2.00 if passed per case adjudicated guilty in Calhoun County Alabama for violations of law. The funds would then be sent to the Calhoun County District Attorney's Office for deposit into an account. The account would then require the signature of the Chief of Police at JSU and the Calhoun County District Attorney to make withdrawals to pay for the purchase of related equipment and/or items to enable the officer/police department to provide a service to the JSU community. Currently JSU does not receive funding from criminal or traffic stops. This fund should cover the cost of one patrol car per year and the emergency equipment needed to equip the vehicle. Any additional funding can be used for equipment and/or software to assist officers or the department in providing law enforcement services for the community. Cameras are needed in the parking lots and different public areas outside to assist UPD with investigations after a crime has been committed.
The cameras will also serve as a deterrent to those who wold commit crimes in areas where cameras are located.
Status: Ongoing Person(s) Responsible: Chief Giddy
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Objective 2.1
Reduce traffic flow and parking problems by collaborating with faculty, staff and student groups to establish a comprehensive traffic and parking plan. Become more efficient with parking citations for parking violators. Upgrade the automated ticketing system to post charges on the University Banner System.
Strategy / Assessment / Success Criteria
Provide input into future construction projects ensuring adequate parking facilities. Meet and work with action groups to resolve parking issues. Update automated parking violation citation system to be compatible with the Banner system. Meet with action groups and university administrators to agree on a combined strategy of capital improvement for parking, and class scheduling considerations. Use full-time parking enforcement officer for scheduled enforcement, and police person to respond to parking complaints that will allow the parking enforcement officer to complete scheduled enforcement. Get overtime approved for two enforcement officers to work Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM. One officer to work from 2:00 PM until 5:00 PM. This will identify repeat offenders so that outstanding tickets can be charged.
Status: Ongoing Person(s) Responsible: Chief Giddy
Objective: 2.2
Reduce traffic hazards at identified locations by visibly enforcing speed limits at student crosswalks. High visibility traffic enforcement will reduce speed of vehicles traveling through crosswalks.
Strategy / Assessment / Success Criteria
Increase the number of visible traffic enforcement patrols at high use and traffic crosswalks such as Brewer Hall and Houston Cole Library, which both require students to cross Highway 21. Increase public safety messages to make drivers more aware of posted speed at crosswalks. Get overtime approved to provide additional police presence in monitoring cross walks.
Status: Completed Person(s) Responsible: Chief Giddy
Objective 3.1
Provide positive leadership role models for students to emulate by identifying and assigning qualified employees to train and mentor student employees.
Strategy / Assessment / Success Criteria
Match best full-time employees to student workers. Student employees are assigned to knowledgeable, experienced full-time employees for training. Their personal and professional interaction will provide quality training and foster personal development for student employees. Student employees will become professionally competent and personally enhanced with increased character and emotional intelligence. Each semester student workers will be requested to complete an evaluation on numerous qualities of work issues to include work hours, training, management/supervision, and recommendations to improve working conditions. Purchase police agency shirts to identify student workers to people who enter the building. (Dispatchers, Safety Security patrol, etc.)
Status: Ongoing Person(s) Responsible: Chief Giddy
Objective: 04.1
Maintain accreditation standards and receive re-accreditation in 2012.
Strategy / Assessment / Success Criteria
Employ one UPD officer as the accreditation manager to work on the reaccreditation standards during 2009 through 2012. Reaccreditation by CALEA in 2010. UPD looked at IACLEA for future accreditations. The IACLEA is the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Agencies. They are recognized by our current accreditation organization. From research the switch has not proven feasible, CALEA will be adding standards for University agencies and the licensing fees are passed on to the consumer from ICCLEA.
Status: Ongoing Person(s) Responsible: Chief Giddy
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Objective: 5.1
Student response on the reporting of crime on campus should remain about the same or decrease. This will provide the JSU community with the atmosphere conducive to learning with a feeling of security.
Strategy / Assessment / Success Criteria
Status: Ongoing Person(s) Responsible: Chief Giddy
Crime reporting in the year 2005 was 292 reportable cases; 2006 was 283 reportable cases; 2007 was 269 reportable cases; 2008 was 256 reportable cases; 2009 was 256 reportable cases, and for 2010 JSU had 231 reportable cases as of 12/16/2010. The UPD will work to reduce the total number of criminal cases each year. The evaluation of this goal will be measured by statistics from Police Pak on reportable cases. UPD will need to identify individuals involved with offenses on campus. This will be insured through the legal system and the University Judicial System. The UPD will need to ensure each violation is addressed. Members of the community will receive information through posting, hearing, and word of mouth that UPD, JSU employees, Housing, and the Judicial Coordinator are working together to insure safety across the campus. The UPD will work with outside law enforcement agencies to identify those students that commit crime off campus and refer them to the Judicial Coordinator as well. Criminal acts committed in the surrounding area by students bring as much discredit to JSU as crimes committed on campus, if not more. This will also demonstrate to the students as well as the outside community the commitment JSU has in preparing students to become successful, not only in academics.
Status: Ongoing Person (s) Responsible: Chief Giddy
