Right now, a student who walks into the Campus Public Safety Office may think that it looks more like a construction zone than a public safety office. New renovations are part of a larger effort to restructure and rebuild how Portland State’s CPSO office functions.
Since Phillip Zerzan became director of CPSO in summer 2011, the office has seen several physical and policy-oriented changes. The initial shift toward Zerzan’s goals began with a brand new policy manual that went into effect Nov. 1, 2011.
The 400-page guidebook is filled with case-backed information regarding such topics as defensive policies and crime. Additionally, CPSO now receives updates on certain policies when legal cases are resolved. “Building something like this from the ground up is a very daunting task,” Zerzan said.
The new manual was just the first step in a series of changes over the past six months. In addition to the construction changes and implementation of policies, there have been several new positions created and filled, and CPSO plans to create a new system for dispatching and recording crimes.
The red phone—the current method used to gain access to the office and report crimes—which currently sits outside the door of CPSO, will be a thing of the past. Instead, it will be replaced with a 24-hour response desk. Either a dispatcher or secretary will be available to speak to students at all times.
“There will be a window, so people can talk to a real human being,” Zerzan said.
The newly designed office makes it possible to relocate the dispatch center back to the main CPSO office. Currently, the dispatchers are located in the basement of the Market Center Building on 4th Avenue. By bringing the dispatch office back into the fold, Zerzan says there will be “greater oversight,” and it will allow dispatch to “feel more like they are a part of the team.”
The dispatch station will be located inside the office, just behind the desk where the current secretary sits. The new station will feature monitors and will be equipped with a newly implemented Computer Aided Dispatch. The program will be tailored to fit PSU’s current public safety needs.
Nicholas Weltch, communications and records supervisor for CPSO, said that the system is a step up from the current dispatch technology used in the office. “The database currently in use, which will be replaced by the new CAD system later this month, is an access database. It doesn’t have a display that shows where the officers are or what they are doing,” Weltch said. “We can’t immediately pull up information based off prior visits to a location, nor can we pull up information about people we’ve had previous contact with. The system cannot be set to prompt dispatchers to perform a safety check, requiring us to manually set a separate timer.”
The new system comes with many advantages for officers and students alike, allowing for greater transparency and better ability to track offenders. “The new CAD system comes bundled with a new Records Management System, so the officers will be able to collect more information, organize it faster and be better prepared for court,” Weltch said. “All information available to dispatch will be available to officers in real-time and vice-versa, which will result in better information sharing between CPSO personnel and the public.”
As paint dries on the walls in the new dispatch office, Sgt. Michael Anderson steps into his office. He checks the recent logs, preparing himself for his upcoming shift. Anderson is one of three recently hired sergeants who work in a leadership role. Anderson and another CPSO officer were internally promoted, while the third sergeant is a retired officer from Portland Police Bureau. Out of 32 possible applicants, Anderson was selected after a rigorous interview and testing process.
Sergeants like Anderson and other officers on patrol have one important new tool: audio recorders. Since August, officers have carried the recorders, which helps them to collect evidence. “We turn them on when we are going to incidents that may be volatile,” Anderson said. “It’s another level of evidence if we end up going to court.”
Anderson said that in the wake of all of the new policies in the office, he felt there was a “new wind of excitement” among the officers.
While there have been many changes in the months Zerzan has served as director, more are planned for the future. The renovations inside the office are almost complete and will allow for more changes to better serve students, Zerzan said. But even after all the walls are up and everyone has settled in, the job still isn’t finished. “As I’ve said before, they need to take a critical look at campus public safety,” he added.
Zerzan explained that the current changes were part of the first year out of the three-year plan to upgrade campus safety. The first year, he added, is designed to get everyone up and running.
“First we need to get us up to speed and functioning well, then we’ll talk about the direction we’re going in the future,” Zerzan said.