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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 18, 2001)
■YMyi-mm Jon House Emerald Officer Scott Cameron and CpI. Bob Guse were among the eight total DPS employees sworn in as commissioned officers Tuesday by DPS Director Tom Fitzpatrick. DPS continued from page 1 powerful force, but to provide offi cers with the legal privileges to per form a better and more efficient job. “It isn’t to give us any unneces sarily overpowering rights to harass or otherwise,” he said. “It is about us being able to do our job better and more effectively. As well as expecting more pro fessionalism, Fitzpatrick said he believes commissioning officers will also reduce incidents in which DPS officers’ authority is ques tioned. “This provides [officers] with a level of authority that minimizes the questioning of what they can and can’t do,” he said. Lt. Joan Saylor was one of the DPS officers commissioned and she now hopes students will realize DPS officers do have authority on campus. “I know that there are a lot of times where students don’t partic ularly know what our role is,” she said. “I think part of this is helping folks understand better what our function is.” DPS Associate Director Tom Hicks, Sgt. Lynn Brown, Sgt. Sean Strahon, Cpl. Bob Guse and officers Scott Cameron, Rick Bean and Frank Lewis were also commis sioned. Another round of officers are set to be commissioned in June, Fitz patrick said. Guse said a key element of being commissioned will be to provide “educational tools” to help stu dents understand safety issues. “I think it gives us another level of professionalism,” he said. “It just basically gives us more tools to be able to use to make campus a safer place, a better place to be.” To be commissioned, Fitzpatrick said each officer received several weeks of police academy training and had to pass a written test. Those officers who passed then re ceived an oral examination from a board of administrative staff, Uni versity Housing representatives and one student. When Fitzpatrick first made the announcement that DPS would commission officers, he received some criticism from student lead ers who said it would lead to greater abuses of power and offi cers eventually carrying firearms, which they said could lead to more violent confrontations with students and DPS officers. Fitzpatrick said any decision on DPS officers carrying firearms can only be made in the state Legisla ture, and he said he does not see that happening soon. He added commissioning will only give DPS officers a greater sense of safety and more recourse to deal with quarrelsome people, and that it will not alter much of DPS operating policy. “These officers aren’t going to be doing a lot of things different,” he said. In the event of a serious felony or violent person, Fitzpatrick said the standard policy will remain to defer to the Eugene Police Depart ment. If a student has any complaint from how they were treated by a DPS officer, Fitzpatrick said those complaints will be closely exam ined by DPS administrative staff and dealt with promptly and thor oughly. “We’ll certainly be responsive to any citizen who feels they’ve been treated poorly,” he said. But Fitzpatrick stressed that un der the strict guidelines for officers to perform their duties “legally and with an emphasis on under standing the community’s needs ... we very much want to put forth a positive image.” 011539 Cash for Books Law School BOOK Buyback ■ Court Cafe at the Knight Law Center April 23-27 & April 30-May 4 10:00 A.M.-3:00 P.M. ■ Main Store April 23 - May 7 Regular store hours UNIVERSITY^’OREGON BOOKSTORE Book Buyback conducted by Follett. Powering education. Worldwide. Friday, April 27th 8 pm • Mac Court Norm 011381 . Tickets on sale Friday, April 6th. Student: $12.50, GP: $17.50 (plus service charges). Available at the UO ticket Office, all Fastixx locations, or charge by phone 346-4363, or (800) 992-Tixx A Recycle this paper L
