Robert Carrasco
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UPDATED Oct. 29 6:46 p.m.:
The student worker position in the University Police Department remains open. Chief Ronald Davidson said Oct. 29 “no students have been hired since the posting. We even had one [student] leave after seeing it wasn’t what they expected,” he said. “This is not a job where you can sit at a desk and do your homework,” he reminds students. Davidson added UPD reposted the job description and invites students to apply.
Davidson said he’s hopeful with the addition of freshmen and sophomores at A&M-San Antonio in Fall 16, UPD will receive more applicants.
For more information about the position, call UPD non-emergency at 210-784-1900 or visit Jaguar Jobs.
University Police Department plans on hiring student workers to join the campus police team.
Chief Ronald Davidson said the department began advertising for two student workers at the beginning of fall term. The position will remain open until filled.
“The job was created out of necessity as well as just to create jobs to help students dip their toe in the water to see if this is a career that they would want to pursue,” Davidson said. “This could help anyone with making their dreams come true if they want to pursue a career with the police.”
Student workers will help patrol the campus on bicycles, or use the department’s golf cart. They may assist with unlocking vehicle doors, helping with special events or handling routine calls for service. Student employees can also hand out parking tickets, enforce parking rules and regulations, as well as system policies and university procedures.
When he was assistant chief of police at The University of Texas-Pan Am, Davidson said there was a similar program on that campus. He believes a student worker program in the UPD office could be successful here as well.
Durant Frantzen, associate professor of criminology at A&M-San Antonio agreed that the campus positions could offer students beneficial experience.
“As long as they have the proper training, which I’m sure UPD will give them, it’s a good thing as it is exposing them to that particular field,” Frantzen said. “Anything that gets students involved is a good thing.”
Frantzen said the criminology department runs a similar program whereby they place students in San Antonio Police Department internships and other law enforcement agencies. Students may interview inmates and witnesses, ride along on stops with police officers and help the police assist with cases as part of the experience.
As the university prepares for enrollment growth due to downward expansion, the UPD also needs to adjust with the growth.
“When we hit the 7,000 student mark, and especially when we get dorms, it will change the dynamic for the police department,” Davidson said.
UPD will require full initial background checks for students and a signed confidentiality contract for the cases the department is handling. UPD will not permit students workers to carry guns.
Davidson said student workers are expected to wear a maroon t-shirt and grey pants or shorts, and once they are sized, will wear a police uniform.
“The students will be wearing uniforms to be more identifiable so people won’t think of them as suspicious when they are moving throughout the campus,” he said.
For more information about the position, call UPD non-emergency at 210-784-1900 or visit JagWire.
