The first round of new hires at the Department of Public Safety is expected to join the Eastern Michigan University police force by the end of this month.
The new hires will serve as part of a larger effort to increase off-campus patrol while maintaining a strong presence on campus.
Lt. Jeff Nesmith of DPS said that the interview process for the first round of new hires will take place over the next few weeks.
DPS has been working with the Ypsilanti Police Department and the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office to help patrol the more crime-ridden areas surrounding EMU’s campus.
“We are making a serious effort to do more patrols off campus,” Nesmith said.
He said that DPS is currently helping to patrol off-campus by doing directed patrols, or arriving at a scene when needed.
“We want to make more of a presence off campus, but don’t want to neglect our duties on campus,” Nesmith said.
Nesmith said it will be a while before DPS will have the opportunity to assign officers to regular off-campus patrols, as the new hires will have to go through a 16-week field training program before officially serving for the force.
Until the new hires join the force, Nesmith said that DPS plans to continue with directed patrols as much as possible.
With less people on campus over break, DPS was able to patrol the areas surrounding campus more in that time frame.
DPS was involved in an arrest and retrieval of a gun from a young man leaving a party on Jan. 4. A person at the party called police to let them know they had seen someone with a gun.
DPS caught up with the accused young man on Railroad Street and did find a gun on his person. He was then arrested for carrying a concealed weapon.
“That was probably our most major incident over break,” Nesmith said.
