Campus Life

Utah State Campus Safety Opens Additional Service Space in TSC

By Megan McCuistion |

USU Campus Safety has added a substation in the Taggart Student Center to better serve the campus community.

As campus was shutting down last spring, the Utah State University Department of Public Safety opened an additional office space in the Taggart Student Center, creating more availability and protection for the Logan campus.

The office, in room 238 across from The Marketplace, officially opened in January and was fully functional the first week of March.

“All of USU Public Safety is on the fringes of campus,” said Scott Bodily, security supervisor with the Department of Public Safety. “This gives us an actual public safety presence in the middle of campus.”

Most day-to-day functions of the Public Safety Office on the north end of campus can also be done in the TSC office. Any lost property that is turned in at the TSC office will be taken to the primary safety office.

With the additional space, Public Safety has been able to increase its security staffing, providing more people for general campus protection and freeing up police staff for more emergent issues. Security officers may be dispatched for non-criminal incidents, safety escorts and lockouts, and can serve as first responders. Security staff are also utilized to work campus events and direct traffic.

“Security is basically observation – it's presence and observation for public safety,” Bodily said. “At any given time, you'll have one or two police officers on duty, but I could have upwards of three to six security officers on duty helping to be the eyes and ears for the police officers.”

The TSC Public Safety office is open to anyone for questions or reports regarding campus safety.

“We’re going to continue to grow,” said Earl “Torch” Morris, director of Public Safety. “We’re at a point right now where we're evaluating the effectiveness of the security department. Within weeks we saw the great benefits that they are, so I suspect that over time we'll continue to increase the number of security guards that we have, and their function continues to widen.”

The Department of Public Safety includes, Police, Security, Emergency Services, Fire and Dispatch. The department also includes police at USU Eastern and security guards at the Blanding campus, as well as coverage at the 28 statewide learning centers and all university property.

WRITER

Megan McCuistion
Communicator
Athletics Media Relations
megan.mccuistion@usu.edu

CONTACT

Amanda DeRito
Associate VP of Strategic Communications
University Marketing and Communications
435-797-2759
Amanda.derito@usu.edu


TOPICS

Student Life 242stories Public Safety 63stories

Comments and questions regarding this article may be directed to the contact person listed on this page.

Next Story in Campus Life

See Also