The Village, Oswego State’s newest living arrangement, promises more freedoms and an off-campus living experience for students, but also carries the potential for more partying and crime, something U.P. is hoping to curb.
University Police have been discussing how The Village will be monitored for partying.
"Through Residency Life and Housing, there is a committee formed, they have been meeting regularly for about a year," Assistant Chief John Rossi said.
Discussions have been on-going between U.P., Residential Life and Housing, and the maintenance departments in regards to certain issues including fire issues and criminal issues.
"So we’re all in a good place and have a good plan," University Police Chief Cindy Adam said.
The Village, located to the west of Glimmerglass Lagoon, will be added to the patrol zone for that part of campus. The complex is solely part of the University Police’s jurisdiction, giving them full reign for patrolling. City police would only be able to respond to problems concerning The Village if they were requested.
University Police plans on patrolling the complex the same way they patrol the Residence halls on bike, foot, and ATVs.
"It is a different environment, we will make accommodations, there will be some differences in the fact that there are not as many public areas, in some ways the patrol function will be different," Chief Adam said.
U.P. will have consistent patrols of The Village throughout the week, and Rossi noted that "on weekends, if we have to, we will add other people for those shifts."
University Police is not expecting partying to be a major issue for the complex.
"In regards of will there be parties, I’m sure there will be parties, but as a problem, we are relying on Residential Life and Housing to do education along with U.P.," Chief Adam said.
Similar to the way U.P. are not able to go into a house in town unless they are called, The Village will be treated in the same respect.
"Basically The Village is its own residence, we will not be able to do interior checks," Rossi said.
Other SUNY schools, such as Brockport, have townhouse complexes on campus in which they patrol the same way they patrol the residence halls. University Police at Brockport assigns an officer that patrols the complex on both bike and foot. Along with regular patrolling they have a liaison that meets regularly with the residential director.
"They are there for issues of usual concern, crime prevention and education," SUNY Brockport Assistant Police Chief Ed Giblin said.
Giblin has only been with the U.P. at Brockport for a year now but he stated that, "they are like any other resident hall, we go over there occasionally but nothing pops out at me."
Parties at the townhouses in Brockport have only been a problem on rare occasion; mostly they just see noise complaints every so often.
"We don’t have a lot of problems over there at all, we have a good relationship with the residents over there," Giblin said.
At SUNY Potsdam the individual townhouses are seen differently then just a regular residence hall. They are patrolled by both foot patrol and vehicle patrol around the perimeter of the facility. U.P. at Potsdam do not patrol the interior of buildings.
"If there is an issue at the townhouse you have to go knocking at the door, same as knocking on doors at residence halls, but there are no hallways," Chief Gary Bean said.
Bean sees the townhouse complex and the residence halls differently because of the design. Without hallways to patrol, U.P. does not patrol the interior of the townhouse complex.
SUNY Potsdam police does not see many problems at the townhouses.
"Our problems originate at younger class years, generally speaking upper class students do not tend to have as many issues, smaller individuals living together, less potential for some of that to go [awry]," Bean said.
