The Beacon takes it to the streets

By Megan Osborn, Opinions Editor -- osborn11@up.edu

It's ten o'clock at night on a Saturday, and I'm in the last place a UP student probably wants to be: a Public Safety vehicle.

I sit down in the passenger's seat and look behind me to see the bulletproof glass. When Officer Dirk Fledderjohann extends a reading lamp out of the console and adjusts it for my notebook, I know I'm on the right side of that glass.

Officer Fledderjohann – I call him Dirk – likes to work the graveyard shift at Public Safety. Rather like a comic book hero, he takes classes by day at UP and patrols the school by night.

He lists off almost a dozen classes that he's taken at UP, taking full advantage of the 95 percent discount on 18 credits per year that comes as a benefit of his job. Fledderjohann has a wide-ranging educational appetite. He's taken everything, it seems, from hula dancing to astronomy.

"I figure I'll be 85 when I run out of classes," Fledderjohann said with a chuckle.

Getting a little more serious, I ask Fledderjohann what the best part of his job is.

"Interacting with students," he said without hesitation.

The worst thing?

"Interacting with students," he said, laughing, "Actually, I really have had very few negative interactions with students."

Fledderjohann does admit there is a downside to his job.

"Seeing people get themselves in bad situations that they could have avoided that may have long term consequences," he said.

However, Fledderjohann explains the main kinds of situations Public Safety gets called to are not too dire.

"We get calls from students who leave books in buildings with term papers that are due the next morning, lost items," Fledderjohann said.

Fledderjohann explains that Public Safety is usually the first contact for students who find themselves in a bind.

"Our goal is not to hand out as many MIPs and parking tickets as possible," Fledderjohann said, "though those who receive them might think otherwise."

Some of the main duties performed by Public Safety are general security measures, Fledderjohann explains as we circle campus.

"We establish a presence," he said. "People doing things they shouldn't be doing don't like to be observed."

Fledderjohann explains that Public Safety also performs general security duties, which can be boring, to keep the campus safe. These include locking classroom buildings and dormitories at night.

He mentions he sees engineering students working into all hours of the night on their design projects. He waves to them as he makes his rounds.

"If we can provide a bit of comfort, that's a benefit," he said.

At 10:30 p.m., Fledderjohann receives a dispatch about some UP students who got off at the wrong bus stop in St. Johns and can't get back to campus.

Even though St. Johns is far beyond Public Safety's usual patrol area and taxiing students isn't in Public Safety list of duties, Fledderjohann responds immediately.

Five minutes later, we pick up a few frightened-looking girls from the Safeway in St. Johns who incessantly express gratitude to us for rescuing them.

The night is far from over. Fledderjohann receives another dispatch; this time it's a noise complaint about two parties from a resident of University Park.

Fledderjohann drives across Willamette Blvd. into the University Park neighborhood to respond to the complaint.

He explains the officers will first establish whether it is safe to make contact with the house that received the complaint. Safety of the officers is not a problem most of the time, he assures me.

Fledderjohann and a fellow officer pull up to the house and confirm this was the location the dispatch reported.

Stepping out of the car, I heard a cacophony of voices and loud music coming from the house. A few students who have spotted the Public Safety cars can be heard yelling to the others.

The officers walk up to the doorstep and are immediately greeted by two students who identify themselves as the renters of the house.

The officers ask to see the students' UP ID cards. When one of them doesn't have it the officers ask for his social security number.

The students and the officers are both polite. The officers tell them to shut the party down.

The officers stand on the sidewalk in front of the house as the renters go back inside to tell their guests it's time to go home.

Fledderjohann tells me the house is private property.

 "We do our best to respect that," he said.

Fledderjohann also explains that once a noise complaint about a party comes in, the officers shut it down. There are no second chances. He explains that Public Safety used to issue warnings. However, since most parties did not quiet down after being given a warning, officers now immediately shut the party down.

Student renters are usually cooperative and apologetic when Public Safety comes to their door, according to Fledderjohann.

Standing calmly, the officers do not hand out citations to the flood of intoxicated and possibly underage students coming out of the house. They simply tell them the party's over and they should go home.

The second party, two houses down from the one that has just been broken up, is noticed by the officers who hear loud music blaring as the front door is repeatedly opened by students.

This party is also shut down and students flood out to the street.

Fledderjohann is generally satisfied with the student compliance, although he mentions students usually take longer than Public Safety would like to clear out of parties. The officers remain in front of the house until a large amount of students disperse, making sure students are not simply waiting until Public Safety leaves to carry on.

Fledderjohann explains that they will return in a little while to make sure the party hasn't started up again.

After seeing that both parties have dispersed, Fledderjohann and I hop back into the car and drive back to campus.

"We're trying to teach students responsible, adult behavior," he said. "We have to be considerate of our neighbors — that's what it's all about."