Taking an average of 1600 steps a day, pacing the entire campus several times, the EvCC security officers are here to protect the students. Twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, someone from the security office is here on the campus, even if you’re not. If you lost your phone or are locked out of your car, don’t fret, they are here and ready to help.

Nicholas Aldrich is an EvCC security officer, who has been working on this job for six months.  He and fellow officer, Mitch Sadler, patrol the campus to keep students safe.

It is a lot more reactive at EvCC, versus his other security job which was not at a school, according to Aldrich. When you see something, you have to stop it right away. Most of what they do on the job happens on the spot while patrolling the campus.

On an average day, he will jump start students’ cars, unlock classrooms, patrol the parking lots and escort students to their cars late at night. Aldrich said, “We get to play firefighter sometimes.” In the summer quarter especially, the officers put out small fires in the bark that are lit by cigarettes.

Fellow officer Sadler said, “We like to help people out.” Aldrich would agree he said, his favorite part of the job is interacting with students. While roaming through the halls he is always the first to say, “How’s it going?”

While walking through the halls all eyes are on the security officers, but it is rare that a student is getting in trouble. Most of the time, the officers are locking or unlocking classrooms for the teachers who forget their keys, making sure everyone is safe or keeping out unwelcome visitors

In addition, a portion of his day include patrolling the parking lots. Most of you have probably seen the officers strolling through the lots, checking for parking passes. Believe it or not, ticketing students is not a part of the job they look forward to.

Ruining a student’s day is not something they take lightly and refrain from it whenever possible. If they don’t see your pass hanging off your mirror, they will check to see if it is on your seat. They make sure they take pictures of all of the cars ticketed and the exact discrepancy.

This year they began patrolling in pairs more often, to ensure they are more accurate and safe. Since the change, there have been far less break ins than ever before and ticketing has decreased. Aldrich explained, ticketing more in the beginning of the year has allowed for an eventual decrease because more students have begun buying parking passes.

Over the few months Aldrich has been at EvCC, he has seen some crazy attempts at parking pass fraud. Students try to copy parking passes, color over them or just about anything else you can imagine. They never quite work though, Aldrich and the other officers have a keen eye for finding fakes.

Less common in his time on campus, he has had to break up fights between students. While patrolling, security looks for students who appear like they are about to confront each other. Aldrich says, “If we can just stop something before it starts, it’s better.”

The security officers on campus are here to protect the students. Whether it is putting out small fires or preventing car break ins, their job can be pretty unexpected from day to day. After their 1600 step work day, they return their next shift to do it all over again.