They're seen patrolling the campus, walking through dorms and pulling over speeders, but University Police officers have many more responsibilities that serve to maintain safety on campus.
There is no such thing as an ordinary day for an officer on Geneseo's campus. "That's the nice thing about law enforcement type work, you never really get the same stuff all the time," said officer Phil Borden.
Borden emphasized that being a University Police officer is the same as any other law enforcement job. "The things we do here are the same as the things you would find in the county," he said. "That's important because I don't think people realize a lot of the time what we do here is so similar to what other law enforcement agencies do."
Routine activities include starting the shift with roll call and informing officers of activities that have taken place so far in the day. Other responsibilities include locking up academic buildings and walking through residence halls to ensure the doors are locked and the locks are functioning.
Borden said the officers' goal is "just to be a presence, so people can see us and it lets them know we are out there."
Further duties consist of responding to medical emergencies, criminal complaints and service-oriented programs such as Operation ID, which engraves students' belongings and stores their information in a database in case the item is ever lost or stolen.
Unique to his responsibilities, Borden teaches a self-defense class six to seven times a year. "Usually various [resident assistants] contact me and the programs are an hour in duration," he said. "It lets people know that I'm out there."
"I have a martial arts background and I've been doing it for a while," Borden continued. "I feel like I'm making an impact and even if one person gets something out of it, I feel like I've done something good."
While there are various reasons for becoming a police officer, Joel Arney found himself inspired after the events of Sept. 11. "I realized that there is no better way to spend your time on earth than protecting the world in which you live and the people that share that place with you," he said.
A love of servicing the community is a common highlight to policing the campus. "The most favorite part of my job is the feeling I have when I know I am offering protection to the community I work in," said Arney. "I also pride myself in offering protection to people and their property in the event that they become victimized."