University Star

Ralph Meyer, chief of the University Police Department, reflected on the performance of the campus police this year, and discussed what Bobcats can look forward to in 2013.

NB: What was the biggest challenge this year for UPD?

RM: Preparing to go to the new football FBS, starting out with the new stadium, and getting prepared for the Tech game. That was our biggest challenge between (UPD) and the city. It was an extremely good effort.

NB: One of the big things that happened this year was the bomb threat. How would you describe the university’s handling of the situation?

RM: I think it was exceptionally excellent. With the information we had, we acted accordingly. We had to vacate one building, the admissions building, so that was good. And we were able to catch the person who we believe sent the message, and that’s going through the court system at this time.

NB: Would you have done anything differently with how it was handled?

RM: No, I think it was pretty well handled. We tried to get out as much information as we could to the population. I guess the negative is I wish we had more students in the R.A.V.E. system so we could automatically notify them so there wouldn’t be a problem of not everybody getting the message or getting the word. It would help tremendously if we could get all the information to them.

NB: How has UPD dealt with the smoking ban on campus this year?

RM: There are less people openly smoking. We don’t have as many people calling in as we did last semester. We still have some. There’s pockets of people who hide behind buildings and do this. And when we’re running into those we get their names, and we have a policy and procedure intact that they’re reported to the Dean of Students or to the faculty chair that they’re under. But it hasn’t been as big a problem as it was last year. It’s been more and more accepted.

NB: What do you all look forward to in the coming year?

RM: I think we’re looking at, the whole university and not just the police department, the uncertainty of the legislature, whether there is going to be money for funding for all the different things the university needs. That affects everybody. We were fortunate to get three new officer positions in September. So we have two on board for that new position, so we’re feeling good about that. We could always use more funding. Everybody on campus could use more funding. But we’re not going backwards, and that’s just our biggest plus.