With a New Location, a New Face for Public Safety?

Author: Ted Lester

Middlebury College excels in so many areas of student life. However, there is one department at Middlebury that is not up to the par of student expectations. At most schools students have a positive attitude towards their security department, but at Middlebury almost every student I talk with has a negative attitude towards Public Safety. It is not the officers: everyone agrees that they are hard workers who are obligated to enforce the rules. The main source of friction between the students and the department come from those who work in the office. Students are sick of being treated like they are always wrong or a burden to the dispatcher.

I would like to suggest a few simple changes for Public Safety as they move to their new location. Firstly, that dispatchers and those who work in the office change from a "no, we can't do that" attitude to a "we will do everything we can to help you." A simple change in the way that calls and requests are answered can make all the difference. Instead of making it seem like a burden to have an officer come unlock a door, Public Safety should seem eager to help. While I understand that sometimes the department is understaffed, a matter for Old Chapel to address, all I am suggesting is a change in the attitude towards the students. It is a matter of simple customer service. Secondly, students would appreciate the little things that Public Safety could do to go out of their way to help. For example, at most colleges, the security department is helpful in jump-starting dead vehicles. Here, however, when you have a dead battery in the dead of winter, Public Safety makes you walk to their office, pick up a battery starter and walk back to your car. Why can't they deliver the starter and help you use it? Finally, as the Health Center has been moved to the edge of campus, Public Safety needs to be more willing to transport students. When a student gets severely ill and needs to go to the Health Center, are their friends going to call Public Safety to help out when they are used to hearing "30 minutes to an hour" every time someone needs transporting? When students don't feel comfortable calling Public Safety, it is a matter of real public safety.

Hopefully these suggestions will make Public Safety more responsive to student needs.