BCPD Increases Requirements for Campus Event Staffing

The number of BCPD officers at the next student event may be changing.

A longstanding University policy for events required all student clubs hosting entertainment events on campus, – from concerts to Nights on the Heights (NOTH) events – to meet with BCPD to determine appropriate police staffing levels. The officers staffing the events, however, bill an overtime hourly rate of $46.25 per hour, per officer with a four hour-minimum. Student organizations must fund any required officers from their program budgets, possibly adding a significant cost to an event depending on the number of required officers.

"We staff to handle our normal call volume," said John King, chief of BCPD. "We can't devote a shift officer exclusively to staff a student event. Shift officers can support an event in an emergency, but they are not a substitute to having an officer assigned to oversee an event. I don't feel comfortable taking a shift officer away from being able to respond to an emergency in order to staff an event."

Under a new approach implemented by King, all organizations will continue to meet with BCPD prior to any event as previously done, but a post event evaluation will also be performed with student organizers and BCPD.

"Depending on the type of event and past experiences, we may make the decision to scale down staffing or adjust resources," King said. "We want to staff events appropriately and proportionate with the safety and security needs of an event. We will work on the plan together with students so there will be no surprises."

"I believe the new process for staffing police will be fair and meet the safety needs of events," said Mark Miceli, associate director of student programs.

The change in determining staffing at student events came as a result of the department's new organizational model taking effect this academic year. Under the new model, BCPD will be arranged into four bureaus, including a planning and administration bureau, supervised by a captain, which will oversee policy and procedures, as well as training, accreditation, and event management.

The policy and administration bureau will be responsible for both the pre and post event staffing review process for student events. Students should notice a change starting in the spring semester as the department adds additional resources. In the coming weeks, BCPD will add an associate director/deputy chief, allowing the department's captain, Margaret Connolly, to focus on planning and administrative tasks, including student event staffing.

"We are not quite where I want to be in the process, but we are working hard to get everything in place," King said.

In addition to the policy and administration bureau, a business services bureau will provide internal support for the department; a dispatch and communication bureau will address the technical needs of the department, and a bureau known as Community Policing and Patrol Services, the department's largest and most visible bureau, will handle policing and patrol matters.