Keep it clean

Keeping your surroundings clean can help deter crime. If a property looks like nobody cares, the criminals think you don't care enough to keep an eye on it. It pays to keep everything about the campus clean. That means staying on top of the grounds keepers, maintenance and even your security personnel to make sure that everything is in good repair and clean - inside and out.

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Check Your Rights At The Door, Please!

It amazes me. We send our children to schools and the officials at the school, quite often, act as if the constitution and due process was left outside the door and one may pick it up again as you exit the school. Common sense, the rule of law and fairness give way to iron-fisted, tyrannical rule with no compassion, no common sense and no rights.

I read an article today that caused me to sit back and wonder what has led us to the day when we can teach children about the constitution on the one hand, then on the other hand throw them in jail for a minor infraction. The article in question was about a 12 year old girl that scribbled a note on her desk, put a smiley face on it, then wrote a note stating her love for her two friends. Wow! What a criminal! Destroying property! Right?

Wrong! The scribblings were all written in a washable marker. That didn't matter to the tyrants that run our schools. Nope. They marched the girl off to the safety officer who promptly searched her, called the police and demanded her arrest. The police were no better. They arrived on scene and promptly arrested the girl. That will teach her! The judge in the case was no better. He sentenced the girl to community service and writing an essay about what she had learned from the experience.

I have a few suggestions for her. The first lesson is that the constitution only applies to grown people. Once one enters a public school the constitution is only a document that is to be discussed and certainly not applied.

The second lesson is that common sense is for out there. In our public schools we will not tolerate the slightest deviation from our rules. In our public schools tolerance is preached but not practiced. You can not even have a picture of a gun, even a crude drawing of one, or your run afoul of the no tolerance ban on guns. I don't know how students have learned about the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the American Civil War, World Wars I and II, Vietnam, the Gulf War. Wait, maybe they are learning none of that. That would require pictures of men carrying guns.

The third lesson would be that nobody, from the teacher to the judge would recognize the fact that it was a washable marker. The punishment, if any was really required, might have been to give the kid a bottle of 409 and a paper towel and have her wash her misdeeds away. The problem would have been solved.

We must demand more from our public schools. We must demand safety for our children. Carting them off to jail for minor infractions can lead to all sorts of harm. It teaches them that tyranny is the norm and that they are powerless against the powers that are in control - Total control!

Have You Ever Had One Of Those Days

We have all had them! You get up in the morning and find from the very start things are conspiring against you. There is no hot water, you stumble to the kitchen only to find that you are out of milk, then you burn the toast, then you finally make it out to the car only to find that you have a flat! When the whole day starts to look like Muphy is not just visiting...he has taken up residence in your home....why even bother to go to work?

Well, we get up and go to work because we must. We have a duty to our school and no matter what comes at us on the home front, you will find the professional courage to step out into this unruly world and attempt to tame your corner of it. It is not always easy, but we must be there because not only are the students counting on us, the parents are, the faculty members are and the staff members are. With all of that riding on our shoulders we sometimes forget to take care of ourselves.

I know that there are times where I feel like I just can not take another thing going wrong. However, that is the time when you know that you need to take a break. If you do not take occasional breaks along the way you are headed for disaster and certain burn-out. The job of a lawenforcement professional or security professional on a college campus can be taxing to say the least.

Mini vacations are just the answer. Sometimes a change of scenery is just what it will take to give you a fresh outlook on your job and on life itself. If you feel yourself feeling like you need a break - take one! Make sure that your bases are covered and then leave someone else in charge and take a break. Your institution will somehow make it without you. In fact, it was probably there before you got there and will be there well after you leave.

Mini vacations can be a one day jaunt to the mountains or beach or a long weekend of relaxing or catching up on chores around the house so that you will not have a morning like what was described at the beginning of this article. If you don't take the time to do such things it can become overwhelming as things begin to mount up and you feel as if you are losing control.

With the school year about to start again you need to have it well planned. If you do then the minor glitches that come up will be much easier to deal with and it will leave you more time for doing such things as taking a mini vacation. You also need to coordinate your time off so that you can get the maximum amount of enjoyment without worrying that you are leaving your institution without a key person. For instance, don't plan on taking a mini vacation just before a major event on campus. You will come back and feel rushed to make the necessary preparations and the vacation will be despised by you because you are so far behind.

Take a break.....put your feet up.....and enjoy your time off!

Don't Squash A Flea With An Elephant!

Effective management and managers are hard to find. Most people are not naturally born managers. What we must do is learn how to manage people and events. We can learn a lot by watching what others do that works or doesn't work.

I have learned a lot from managers who exhibited very poor management or people skills. I remember one manager who had a bad reputation in almost every aspect of his relationship with the people who worked for him. People feared him. He often chewed people out right in front of others. People hated him. He often cursed people out for not doing what he thought they should be doing. People hated him. This manager often promoted people who would do crooked things that benefited him personally, yet cost the company he was working for hundreds of thousands of dollars and possibly even into the millions. I hated him - but I learned to watch this negative example of what not to do when managing people. Watch people who are mangers and learn not to make the same mistakes they make.

The title of this article seems to have nothing to do with the art of management. That is, until you look at an example of someone taking an extreme measure to correct a minor problem. This was illustrated to me one day when the company moved that hated manager to another smaller unit. They then installed a new manager who seemed to have much better interpersonal skills. However, he often sqaushed fleas with an elephant. What do I mean by this?

If you want to kill fleas on a dog, what do you do? Well, you first make sure that it is fleas that you are trying to kill so that you use the right solution. Next you use enough of the solution to kill the fleas but not the dog. If you have an elephant handy you can try killing the fleas with the said elephant, however, the dog is not going to appreciate having this monster stepping on him to kill his fleas. It probably would not kill the fleas and it would most likely kill the dog.

Here is what I am talking about in terms of management. The new manager who took the reins of the store where I worked (you remember, he replaced the hated manager) decided he would call his wife each day before he left work to let her know that he was on his way home. He always left at about 5:30 or 5:45. One day he picked up the phone and dialed 9 to get an outside line. He was unable to get an outside line. It seemed that all of the outgoing lines were busy. He tried several times to get his call through. He met with no success. He left frustrated.

The next day he told the operations manager to have access to all the outside lines blocked. To make a call he wanted the store associates to call the store operator and for the operator to log all outgoing calls. There were over 100 phones in the store. Much of the time the associates were handling customers by phone to answer questions or transact business. This new manager thought they were making personal phone calls. Absolutley right, some were. Most were not!

Sales began to immediately decline. The new manager blamed the decrease on everything around. You name it, he blamed it at one time or another. Oh, except for the fact that nobody could conduct routine business by phone with out having to jump through hoops and have every call logged. After loosing millions of dollars in sales the company finally moved the new manager to another store. He had solved the percieved problem by taking a drastic measure to fix a problem but he killed the sales in the store in the process. I developed my "Don't squash fleas with an elephant!" management style right then and there!

What does this have to do with campus law enforcement? Well, anytime you are dealing with people you have to keep in mind that they are just dogs with fleas. If you come down with heavy handed techniques or approaches to problems you may be causing more harm than good. Take a look at your actions and see if there is a more subtle and, quite possibly, a better way to make necessary changes. They will probably be more efective in the long run.

A Few Days Away From A New Semester

We are just a few days away from a new year and most colleges and universities are already gearing up for the return of students. It is important to keep a few things in mind as we prepare our campuses for the return of students. For some freshmen who will begin college in the spring semester, this will be the opportunity their chosen college or university will have to confirm in their minds the fact that they have chosen their school wisely. For returning students it will be the chance the university or college has to prove that they listen to suggestions, complaints and grievances of their students, faculty and staff.

You have a chance to impress them all over again with the start of each new semester. You can impress the students that come to your campus by repairing that nagging door that will not close properly or by cleaning up around the gates to your campus. A clean well maintained campus will help foster a image of your campus that is positive. A few new landscaping elements or new lighting might be just the ticket for showing that you care about the area that your students inhabit.

As you are taking stock of your surroundings, take a look at your vehicles. I know of one situation where the maintenance supervisor told the president of the college that he was going to put the name of the college on the truck they used and park it in a very conspicuous place if it was not replaced soon. The rusting spots on the body, the smoke belching from the exhaust, the loose steering, the bad brakes.... You get the picture... Was not enough to get the administration to replace the truck. However, the threat of a little embarrassment worked like a charm. Over the summer the truck quietly disappeared bringing the paltry price of scrap metal. Yes, the car crusher was all it was worth. Yet it had been used on the campus for years in that condition.

Take a look at your every day items. Tools, vehicles, buildings, gates and other publicly visible items. They all make a statement about your campus. If your campus looks like it isn't cared for it invites crime to your campus. It is more than a cosmetic appearance

Crime Prevention Tips

Have you given any thought to what would help keep crime from happening. It is much better to prevent crime than to investigate it. But how do you keep crimes from happening?

To answer that question we would look at what schools have done in the past that works. Here are a few ideas that schools have submitted that appear to work.

1. Prosecute crimes to the fullest extent of the law. By doing so you will end up in court a lot but you will be in front of many people who commit crimes and they will see that you mean business about protecting your campus.

2. Get to know the people outside your campus. Much of the crime one school reported came from the area in very near proximity to the campus. The Chief of Security joined the neighborhood association and they got involved in what was going on outside the gates. They learned where the problems were and the clout of the college motivated the local police in ways that the ordinary citizen couldn't. Remember, tax paying students can generate a lot of money for a city or county (or parish for you folks in LA). Wouldn't it be great if more students came to their city to pay taxes?

3. Organize events that have a positive impact on young people before they get in trouble. Also, if you keep people in the young teen to mid-twenties age group busy doing something positive then you will prevent a certain amount of crime. These youngsters usually know more about who is doing what and is a great source of intelligence on persons who commit crimes, fence stolen property, buy or sell drugs and other undesirable problems. Make sure that someone from your campus police or security is involved in your community for the purpose of learning who is doing what while at the same time keeping those most likely to commit crimes busy doing something positive. In other words, know your enemy.

4. Use the media to communicate crime prevention measures your school uses. This will put the criminal on notice that they might have an easier time elsewhere. Don't forget to communicate with your school's newspaper and student organizations.

5. Cultivate a good working relationship with local prosecutors and police. Even if you have sworn officers you still need to share information with your local and state police or sheriff's office. If your school has officers that have specialized training, offer their services to other jurisdictions, task forces, and agencies. There will be a wealth of information exchanged. However, do be careful with information about your students information that might be protected under FERPA.

Campus Funnies

In recent years I have been asked some strange questions. At times I have to give it some thought and come up with an appropriate answer. Other times it takes a little research to come up with the answer. Sometimes the answer is in the question.

At one point I ran the bookstore in our college. It was fun. I met all the students and had time to get to know many of them. I knew what they liked, what they didn't like, who was doing well in school. Sometimes I felt as if I was the bartender because I listened to the gripes, complaints, concerns and plans of the students. One day though, I was asked a question that I just couldn't help but laugh about.

This young freshman walked in and noticed that we sold pre-paid phone cards. She was excited and wanted to purchase one. "How much is a$10 phone card?" she asked. Everyone within earshot heard the question, then the laughter. "Uhhhhhhhh - Ten Dollars" was my answer. Nope, didn't even have to think about that one.
Of course, this was the same person that had asked a few days earlier "What course is this book for?" She held up the book with the title Introduction to Biology. She had removed it from the shelf that had a sign that said "Introduction to Biology" Course Number GE 1234, Professor Schmoe. "Hmmmmmm, I think that would be for "Introduction to Biology" I stated. Nope, that wasn't one of the questions that I had to think about either.