By Andrew Damstedt
A police officer is sitting in his car tailing a suspected bank robber who is stopped at a red light. The man gets out of his car and starts shooting at the officer?s patrol car.
The officer is shot in the chest from the first shot and quickly ducks behind the steering wheel. More shots are fired from the gunman, hitting the steering wheel shattering lead all over the seats. The hood of the car is also shot, damaging the engine.
Even though this may seem like a scene out of a cop movie, this situation occurred in May 1998 to a BYU University Police officer. And this is just one of the many situations that University Police have had to respond to in its many years of service to the BYU community.
BYU Chief Larry Stott said University Police handle the whole spectrum of criminal cases from trespassing to rape. The mission of University Police is to facilitate an environment of peace and order for the BYU community. And investigating crime is just one facet of the mission.
?It is a very narrow perspective of police work if you say we just investigate crime,? Stott said. ?It is providing safety and quality of life.?
The campus police have grown from its beginnings in the 50s of just writing traffic tickets and locking up buildings to investigating murders and helping solve sex crimes.
Swen Nielson, retired BYU police chief, said the transition of going from a security detail to a police department wasn?t easy. The mentality of the men he trained had to change people?s attitudes toward law enforcement on campus.
?The major role of the university police is the same as a law enforcement agency in any other community ? you have to police the community based on what the community is,? Nielson said.
The population of a university community consists of 18-19-year-old students who are away from home for the first time to faculty who have worked for years on campus.
?The number of cases are much lower than a normal police department, but we handle the same kinds of cases,? Capt. Michael Harroun said. ?The biggest problem is theft.?
But theft isn?t the only thing University Police are trained for. They are first trained as Utah peace officers from a police academy, granting them the same authority as any other officer in the state.
Throughout the years, University Police has seen its fair share of criminal activity. A few weeks ago, officers assisted the sexual task force in making contact with a man who had raped a woman in a university parking lot. The man committed suicide instead of being apprehended by police, Harroun said.
The officers are required to receive 40 hours of training a year in various police duties. But Harroun said they far exceed the 40 hours of training a year. They are trained to handle such cases as sexual assault, forgeries and identity theft. They also have different firearm qualifications they meet each year at different gun ranges or through an electronic simulated program that sets up different scenarios.
The jurisdiction of University Police extends to all BYU campuses and any land owned by BYU. There are 32 full-time officers working with University Police and 10 reserve officers who come in occasionally to cover shifts.
?I like the variety of work, the challenge, everyday is a different day,? Lt. Arnold Lemmon said. ?But most of all is the ability to help people.?
Lemmon is trained in criminal investigations and teaches his officers to be trained in processing crime scenes.
?It?s a fairly complex job for them to do to learn how to process a crime scene,? Lemmon said. ?Myself and all my people have to be forensic oriented to crime scenes ? photography, trace elements and body fluids. There really is a broad range of training that is required.?
A major part of University Police is the different programs to inform the student body. One of the most prominent programs is Rape Aggression Defense for Women. It is a women?s self defense class that teaches women how to defend themselves in case of a sexual assault attack. The class is taught every fall and winter semester.
Susan Gunnell, instructor for RAD for Women, said the purpose of the class is to teach women to be aware of their surroundings and reduce risks.
At the end of every semester, there is a simulation where four or five men suit up as aggressors in padded gear and the women fight them using the defense moves they were taught in the class.
?It is always fun to begin the class and see how timid they are and at the end of the class to see how empowered and confident they become,? Gunnell said.
The instructors also teach a RAD program for kids that emphasize how to avoid violence and how they can break free from an attacker. After the first class they taught, a girl from Springville later used her learned skills and was able to thwart an attacker, Gunnell said.
University officers also teach the first Health and Human Performance class every semester that teaches students a broad range of crime prevention.
?We go over what the law says and what constitutes rape and sexual assault,? said Jennifer Jensen, a crime prevention officer. ?We teach them that a person can leave as many harassing telephone messages as they want until the person tells them it is unwanted and to not contact them again.?
Jensen said they also teach how to reduce chances of being a victim of crime and how to protect themselves from perpetrators. She said the classes are a success with students.
?I like it when they come up and ask me questions? she said. ?It gives me the feeling that we are able to help them better and keep them safe. It opens the lines of communications and gets an open forum out there.?
The motto of University Police can be seen on a patch worn by all officers. Retired chief Swen Nielson designed the patch. There is a lamp that represents knowledge and the scales of justice and a sword.
?The sword represents the sword of Laban,? Nielson said. ?Occasionally we have to use force but it has to be used judicially. One does not abuse power and to not use unnecessary force.?