Is that light on top of the Northeastern Police car real? NEIU public safety officers are fully trained Illinois police: on par with CPD and Illinois State Police in both training and authority. They are here to assist students, as well as monitor them.
NEIU Police Sgt. John Foley describes the work as “assisting the student population with anything within our realm. Every day is different.”
Their “realm” includes automobile accidents, protecting school property; answering questions about rules, laws and regulations and preventing harm to the students, even when another student causes the harm. Problems with academics or the way a professor handles class are not in their line of duty.
Northeastern’s Police hosted national Emergency Response Training course June 1-3, 2007. The Incident Command & Command Post Class is a three-day simulation based course for campus public safety.
The training was funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and standardizes responses by campus public safety and other first-responders (state, local and federal law enforcement, fire department, etc.). NEIU is a leader in this program, the June training saw senior safety personnel from institutions such as the University of Tennessee, the United States Air Force, the University of Illinois at Chicago, St. Zavier University, Loyola University among others.
During the training, model cities were used to show how people would respond to a situation. The participants learned to employ resources to respond to various situations. On the third day, a mock incident occurred in which their new knowledge was put to the test. A real life scenario was staged in real time, and all persons had to perform specific tasks to expedite the safety of all concerned.
When they are not furthering their knowledge of public safety, officers are employing what they know to promoting the welfare of NEIU students, faculty, and staff.
Though, compared with some other peer institutions, the NEIU Police force may be considered small, Lt. Kevin Connolly was quick to point out NEIU’s close relationship with the 17th District of the Chicago Police Department (CPD).
17th District CPD Sgt. and NEIU English Major Sara Segrin said that many CPD officers attend NEIU to qualify for promotion, she described the off duty student officers as and extra “undercover police force,” who carry their service weapons with them at all times and would respond in the case of a catastrophic event. “They are never really off duty,” said Segrin.
Calls should be directed to 442-4100. General questions can be e-mailed to neiucops@neiu.com.