Pulse: How many people work in the Campus Safety Department?
Campus Safety: Doug Chisholm is the Director of Campus Safety. We have 6 full time Officers, one administrative employee, two part-time officers and 5 student officers.
Pulse: What exactly does the Campus Safety Department do all day??
Campus Safety: We do many varied jobs in our office. Just a few examples of what we do are, access control of all dorms and buildings, door openings, special event security, suspicious persons investigations, vehicle registration, parking enforcement, ID services, passport photos, fingerprinting, police liaison, transport/escort service, criminal investigations, monthly fire equipment inspections, fire investigations, accident investigations, regulatory compliance, maintenance assistance, equipment maintenance & replacement programs, etc.
Pulse: Do our CU officers have any training??
Campus Safety: Our full and part time officers go through 24 hours of classroom training and 16-24 hours of on-the-job training with a senior officer. We also have an advanced officer training program that covers 12 additional areas of training with approximately 100 hours of instruction and discussion in security related topics. All of our officers (including students) are trained in First Aid, CPR and AED. Our officers are trained in self-defense and the use of defensive weapons.
Pulse: What about the student officers?
Campus Safety: Lt. Don Parvin has implemented a Cadet Officer Training Program which includes 43 hours of Basic Officer Training as well as on-the-job training with a mentor officer and 5 hours of Professional Security Training. As they move through the program they are given certificates in their training so that when they graduate they can present their Cadet experience to potential employers.
Pulse: Tell us more about the fingerprinting and why it needs to be done?
Campus Safety: Our students have been required in the last few years to have a background check before they are allowed to work with children, the sick and the elderly. These background checks are done by fingerprinting. Cedarville University is connected to the State of Ohio's on-line Webcheck system for background checks. This is a state of the art system that is clean, fast and fun. The results usually come back the next day. The old ink card system could take up to 4 weeks. Marilyn fingerprints 5,000 + fingers per year, (oh the germs she touches!!) She is thankful for her hand sanitizer. More and more departments on campus are or will be making use of this service.
Pulse: We asked some of the employees what they like about working in Campus Safety.
Campus Safety:
Pulse: Any interesting facts you'd like to share about your co-workers??
Campus Safety: Yes. Don Parvin drinks at least two cans of Mountain Dew a day. Jim Bowersox collects die-cast vehicles and has about 900 different ones. Doug Chisholm's office is so cold you could hang meat in it. Bill Randolph and Mark Riggs are both preachers and Pastor Churches in the area. Marilyn Ware is a member of the Village Council and stands on a platform of flowers. Doug Chisholm is a member of the Village Council. Doug and Marilyn like to talk politics. Don Parvin has been given many names, but our favorite is "the Big Guacamole". Everyone loves working for Doug.
Pulse: What is the most exciting thing about working at Campus Safety?
Campus Safety: We have many exciting moments, but it gets VERY exciting in the office when we have a tornado heading our way. We mobilize into action, turn on our TV and monitor weather updates to keep abreast on what is happening moment by moment.
Every day is an adventure. Campus Safety is a great department to work in here at Cedarville University.