Texas A&M University-Commerce’s University Police Department (UPD) has recently increased their patrol during university students’ lunch time.
UPD began increasing their presence at the Sam Rayburn Student Center after university students and employees had reported a series of behavioral issues.
“University police had reports that ranged from sexual harassment to rude behavior and even included foul language,” Jason Bone, crime information officer for the University Police Department said. “University police randomly patrol all of campus throughout the day, including all meals, but have been patrolling lunch more because of these recent behavioral reports.”
The increase in university police patrol has had a positive affect among students. Senior applied arts and sciences major, Nicole Clifton, dines regularly at the Sam Rayburn Student Center and has noticed campus police seem to patrol the Student Center more during lunch than any other meal.
“I feel like the more university police are around places in which large amounts of students congregate, the less likely the chance of a situation is to get out of control,” Clifton said. “Considering more students attend lunch than any other meal on campus, I can see why campus police would increase their patrol during lunch than other meals.”
Clifton was not the only student to reflect positively on the UPD’s presence.
“University police should patrol all meals because that is when there is usually a large group of students and more of a chance for a bad situation to happen,” Renesa Whitman, A&M-Commerce student said. I think it’s a good idea that they patrol lunch more, because more students eat during lunch than any other meal.”