When Public Safety officer Raymond Richer was sitting in classes at Syracuse University and the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, becoming one of the university’s first peace officers was not a career path he had considered.

‘I never even thought law enforcement,’ said Richer, who started last September as a community service officer for Public Safety.

Now Richer is part of nine officers who completed training alongside the Syracuse police’s recruitment class to become the one of the university’s first peace officers, graduating Nov. 15. In February, a second group will begin training, with half the department’s officers slated to complete the process by the start of the next academic year.

‘I did a really quick growing up,’ Richer said. ‘I wanted to do more than I already was. Being a former student, I could see the importance of Public Safety.’

Since the 1980s, Public Safety officers have had ‘enhanced authority,’ which allowed them some police powers, but didn’t include them as a law enforcement agency. Last year, Gov. George Pataki signed a law allowing the department to pursue peace officer authority, which places them a step below police and gives them increased power to perform traffic stops, carry weapons and hold and transport those they arrested.

‘We’ve never been considered law enforcement because of our status. We’re now a member of the law enforcement community,’ said Capt. Drew Buske. ‘This is a historical day for Public Safety.’

The first class, composed of both new hires and officers previously employed by Public Safety, endured training that ranged from physical fitness workouts to shooting practice, to academic work in a classroom setting and ride-alongs with the police.

In total, new hires completed more than 500 hours of training in more than 18 weeks. Previously employed officers completed 258, on top of their previous 200 hours of training.

‘The reality of it is that we work alongside (the Syracuse police), and they had certain expectations,’ said Marlene Hall, director of Public Safety. ‘What people may not understand is the amount of work undertaken by the people going through it.’

Training day

Two potential peace officers – who were not previously Public Safety officers – ended up dropping out of the program because of the demands put on them, and others who made it through agreed that it was a grueling experience.

‘(The two candidates who dropped out) had very good intentions, and wanted very badly to be part of our outfit, but didn’t meet academy standards,’ Hall said. ‘Some are cut for it, some are not.’

The academy began with physical training, then moved on to an academic course, teaching officers the theoretical knowledge they would need to complete their job. The candidates then worked through staged scenarios to reinforce the concepts they’d learned.

Candidates then went on ride-alongs with police, and Richer said the demands of the training were all-consuming.

‘At one point, I started counting down the days,’ he said. ‘It required taking that step away from your normal life to complete the training. It would wear anyone down.’

Richer, who lives in Liverpool and has family and a girlfriend there, found the hours consuming. Familiar with classroom learning from his time at SUNY-ESF, he excelled in the academic training and found the physical workouts exhausting.

‘It was almost like a boot camp,’ Richer said. ‘There were times it was just overwhelming.’

Andy Mrozinski, who completed the training to upgrade to Public Safety’s enhanced authority, a step below peace officer, also found the physical training grueling.

‘I was getting a little worried,’ Mrozinski said, recalling the intensity of the training, and the pushups and running. ‘It is a little militaristic.’

During the practical scenarios, the candidates would be given basic information, similar to a call they might receive while on duty. The officers would then take action to investigate and resolve the situation, while it often changed or become more complicated.

At one point, the candidates were dispatched to the New York state Fairgrounds. As they approached, Mrozinski stopped the car, and got out.

The car drove forward, attracting the attention of the people they were sent to investigate.

‘They saw us before they saw the lieutenant,’ Richer said.

Mrozinski snuck up behind the people, who turned out to be drug dealers in the scenario, and apprehended them.

Other scenarios included a Columbine-like situation where officers searched a building for an armed person shooting weapons, or others where officers responded to a setup resembling a dorm room, with people inside who were scripted to disobey the officers or break the law.

‘That practical experience, you can see it pay off,’ Mrozinski said. ‘You adjust accordingly afterward, you may get something out of it you never thought of. I’ve seen them come a long way.’

A new training regimen that was revised for future academies will include more physical workouts to prevent injuries, as well as more ride-along time with police officers, said Verne Thompson, a Public Safety official who is organizing the academy.

The spring academy will be a 10-week process, totaling about 250 hours. A seven-week academic course will follow, as well as a week on ‘personal skills,’ including training in using a baton, pepper spray, handcuffing and defense.

Included in the training are 40 hours of high-stress driving and responding to simulated crimes in progress.

After the academy is complete, peace officers then undergo a 10-week period of riding along with Public Safety field training officers, who evaluate and critique the new officers.

‘When you get to know somebody specific in the neighboring agencies, then there’s not a rivalry anymore, it’s a friendship,’ said Mike Corpin, one of the officers in charge of the training academy, of the ride-alongs and other programs to bring Public Safety and the police together.

The new Public Safety

Implementing the peace officer upgrade will occur slowly, and will be completed over the next three years, Hall said.

When the university passes its budget in January, the department will have a better idea of how the program will be completed. Currently, it anticipates completing two academies this spring, Thompson said. A list of candidates should be ready by the end of December, and the next academies should begin in February, Thompson said.

There are more than financial challenges involved with coordinating such a drastic change, however.

‘There’s always obstacles when you try to put a portion of staff into training when you’re still trying to furnish a service for the rest of the community,’ Corpin said. ‘I think it’s put a strain on our coverage, but the strain isn’t on the amount of coverage: It’s on the amount of hours people have put in to maintain the coverage for the campus.’

Keeping the peace

The new level of responsibility and integration with police includes a key change for the Public Safety officers: the addition of guns.

‘That’s a scary thing for people: to take a look at a cold piece of steel and imagine it coming to life,’ Hall said.

One of the most controversial aspects of the peace officer upgrade, putting guns on the belts of Public Safety officers, according to Public Safety officials, is necessary for them to ensure the safety of themselves and others, considering the new powers and responsibilities they are expected to perform.

‘Things that happen on college campuses now are much more severe,’ Corpin said. ‘If all we were asking of Public Safety was to open and close buildings and monitor a party here and there, there wouldn’t be a need for that.’

The academy included two weeks of firearms training, totaling 80 hours of target practicing, night fire training with a flashlight and other firearms tactics.

‘You know, most people would rather not carry, and the people that we have here, they’re not gun zealots,’ Corpin said. ‘We’re upgrading the agency to be able to use the tools that are necessary to do their job, that’s all

Making vehicle stops and investigating crimes that might still be in progress can be potentially dangerous, Corpin said, requiring the proper protection for the officer and for those who they might be forced to protect.

‘I never shot anybody, and I never shot at anybody, but I was prepared to defend the people that needed to be defended,’ said Corpin, who worked as a police officer for 20 years and supervised upgrades at SUNY Morrisville from enhanced to police authority. ‘People worry about guns because they think that something is going to happen to them.

I would be more afraid of the fact that society has gone in the direction of carrying weapons, and I am asking someone to defend me and the community without a weapon.’

Currently, Public Safety officers can do little but watch a violent crime in progress and wait for the police to arrive – though Mrozinski said he would have stepped in anyway to protect students.

‘With the ability to carry the firearm comes a vast amount of responsibility because you have the power to use deadly physical force,’ Corpin said. ‘That is the ultimate power, and you’d want to use everything else before you ever had to use that.’

Capt. Grant Williams agreed that using a gun is truly a last resort.

‘Once you’ve gone through this training it changes you forever … I think we’ve been very lucky,’ Williams said, adding that the training has made him more wary on duty. ‘There’s some adjusting, but I don’t think I’ll ever go away from negotiating.’

The negotiating tactics that Public Safety used with students in the past, however, will still be the favored approach.

‘You are an educator in a sense,’ Mroszinski said. ‘That’s why the ability to communicate is a greater asset.’

The university’s judicial system – with its emphasis on teaching students lessons, not necessarily penalizing them – lends itself to talking with students, Mroszinski said.

Williams, however, felt that the training would make him more vigilant, even on campus.

‘For so long at the university, I’ve been trained to try ‘can’t we all just get along,” Williams said. ‘I’ve been too trusting of students.’

As a recent graduate, Richer also said his favored weapon would be words.

‘You can’t really fool me too much,’ Richer said, discussing the advantages of being familiar with both sides of the community. ‘Working on the other side of the curtain, it’s interesting to see the inner workings of the university.’

His main concern, though, is the transition to the new status. Using the new powers, either with students or in the community, might come as a surprise to many who dismiss Public Safety officers’ authority.

‘My biggest fear is everyone not knowing (about the new status),’ Richer said. ‘It’s going to be an eye-opener for everyone.’

Published on December 7, 2004 at 12:00 pm