For several years, University Public Safety has used student workers to respond to the numerous lock-out calls it receives each day.
Director of Public Safety Jerrold Witsil said that for as long as he has worked at the University — 26 years — his department has used student workers to help with lockouts at night.
However, the use of students in this capacity might become more common this year. Crime Prevention Specialist Barry Weiser said that Public Safety hopes this year to increase the number of hours that students will help with lockouts.
Patrol Commander Donald Reichling said that Public Safety received more than 10,000 lock-out calls last year, including calls from undergraduates, graduate students, faculty and administrators.
There were not enough student workers last year, Weiser said. Public Safety officers often had to help with lockouts even at night.
However, this year Weiser said that Public Safety hopes to recruit enough student workers to fill most of the evening schedule. "Our student agency provides people on a schedule as much as they can," Weiser said.
He explained that students on lock-out duty wait in Stanhope Hall until the dispatcher receives a call. Reichling said that student workers generally help with lockouts from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. each night and that shifts vary from two to four hours. Reichling said that the hourly wage for these workers is $8.50.
Weiser said that the dispatcher sends a student worker out with a master key only after they receive a call about a lock-out.
"We don't give them the master key until they get a specific lockout to do," Weiser said.
He also noted that "most buildings have their own individual master key" so that in most cases, the student workers would not have access to any building on campus other than the building where a lock-out has been reported.
Witsil also emphasized that the students "are not wandering around with master keys to the whole campus." Witsil said that the students return to Stanhope Hall with the master key as soon as they have completed their assignments.
Some students expressed concern when told that other students sometimes have access to master keys.
"I'm surprised that they would allow students to use master keys," said one sophomore. "It seems like it would be easy to abuse that power."
However, Witsil said that there is "no reason to distrust [student workers] at all."
He emphasized the dependability of the student workers who help with lockouts. He said that in his years of experience, there has not been a single incident in which a student was accused of using a master key for anything other than assisting a student who has been locked out.
University Vice President for Campus Life Janet Dickerson also said she supports the use of students in this capacity.
"The record here seems to indicate that there has not been, up to now, any problem," Dickerson said in an e-mail. "Thus I support the program, as our student workers are reported to be trustworthy and reliable."
Witsil said that Public Safety also employs students in several other capacities, including as shuttle drivers and in the "Tiger Patrol."
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