Bike patrol to increase campus safety.
PUBLIC SAFETY
UMass Dartmouth Police Department Events
UMass Dartmouth Police Department Events
Members of the UMass Dartmouth Police Department have been able to participate in numerous training classes during the past several months which will not only enhance officers' ability to perform their jobs, but will also benefit the University community. Classes that Department members attended include first responder, legal updates, defensive tactics, firearms, Clery training, hostage and crisis negotiations, drug enforcement, and field training officer school.
The Department has recently promoted several members to supervisory positions. Those promoted were Damon Gomes to the position of Sergeant as well as Maurice Dore and John Souza to the position of Lieutenant.
The Department is taking active steps to become one of the 34 police departments in the state of Massachusetts to become accredited. Out of the 34 departments, only four are higher education institutions. The standards for the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Program are based upon national standards established by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA). Officer Kristin Costa has been assigned as the Department's Accreditation Manager.
The Department is excited to welcome three new student officers to the police department. The three student officers will begin their police training at the Plymouth Municipal Police Academy on July 11, 2011 and upon successful completion of the academy in December, the student officers will begin their field training as they transition to their new role as University Police Officers.
Through crime prevention and community policing, the members of the UMD Police Department strive to make students and staff aware and educated about crime and safety issues on our campus. This is done through information tables, community talks, residential programs, and crime alert and awareness bulletins. Information given at these events is gathered through contacting other college agencies, the internet and our own college statistics.
By educating the community in the areas of theft prevention, alcohol and drug safety, and personal safety, we hope to make our students, faculty and staff feel safer and more informed about our campus. Through this we hope to create a partnership with the university community to help recognize and reduce these issues. Educational programs in these areas include Rape Aggression Defense (RAD), sexual assault awareness, property etching, alcohol safety /education through the use of Mario Kart and beer goggles, domestic violence education, men's violence education, auto etching in partnership with the Governor's Highway Safety Council as well as various crime safety talks at the University's Orientation.
The Crime Prevention officer, Steve Mello, is also very committed to serving the community by sponsoring Quarters for Christmas (to benefit local charities) and by assisting the Massachusetts State Police with the collection of toys by his innovative program of allowing offenders to donate a new toy rather than paying a monetary fine for outstanding parking tickets.
Through the excellent work of Detective Ernest Belliveau and fellow patrol officers, many cases reported to the Department throughout the year have been cleared either through judicial referrals, arrest, and restitution by the offender or the recovery of property through good investigation.
