Community Policing Month shows students that not only are police here to keep Marshall University safe, but they also are community builders, assistant director of Student Conduct said.

“Our goal is to help campus police and the Student Conduct Department connect with the community as well as showing students campus police and student conduct isn’t just the people who get you in trouble,” Michaela Arthur said. “That’s a small part of our role, but we are also here to keep the community safe, engaging and learning. We want to help students connect with campus police and learn more about the services they provide.”

In honor of National Police Week, which was moved to October in the hopes for in-person activities, Marshall University’s student conduct and other organizations arranged “Policing Month” which consists of an event every week to get Marshall’s police department more connected with students and ensure safety on campus activities end with the “Ask the Chiefs” luncheon on Thursday, Oct 27, giving students the opportunity to sit in and join a Q&A with the chief of campus police and Huntington chiefs as well.

Graduate students Carter Truman and Amir Richardson spearheaded the Policing Month events.

“I’m involved in today’s activity because this is probably one of the most serious things that we do on campus. It’s the safety of our property,” Officer James Parker said. “It’s one of our biggest problems too. So, in order to get people to pay attention and lock their stuff up and maintain their security they must be reminded that leaving your stuff unattended is a risk and it helps us in the long run, makes them safe and makes the university a safe place.” 

Campus police want students to know they are here for them. MUPD offers escort services for students afraid to walk alone at night, self-defense classes for women and other public safety services, according to Arthur.

Policing Month events started out with mingle initiatives “Coffee, Cops and Donuts” and “Pop with a Cop,” which give students the opportunity to meet with campus police and ask them questions about public safety while also being able to get free food.

“We chose the first two events because we know college students are hungry, and we wanted to have a little outreach, so, if you’re going to meet college students, you want to meet them where they’re at, and where they’re at is hungry,” Carter Truman, a graduate assistant in the Office of Student Conduct, said.