Samantha Pryor
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Update Jan. 9:
According to University Police Department (UPD) Chief George Hughes, the on-campus walking escort service— Mustang Patrol— is still being formed and will not be implemented until the first week of Feb.
Though some details still need to be fleshed out, here is what we know about the new service:
- It will run Thursdays through Saturdays.
- Hours of operation will be from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m.
- It is strictly an on-campus service — students can only be escorted to points on campus.
- Students can use the service by calling the Mustang Patrol number, which will be released when the program is ready. The number will route the student to a patrol member. They would then agree and meet at one of the meetings points.
- Meeting points include Recreation Center, Kennedy Library, Poly Canyon Village (PCV) and other on-campus student housing, Subway and the Julian A. McPhee University Union.
- Additional meeting points may be added.
The escort van service, another on-campus service, will also have a few changes in February:
- Additional on-campus stops will be added.
- Currently, the van drops students off anywhere on campus and up to a mile off, but with the addition of more on-campus stops, the van may have to stop going off campus. According to Hughes, this is because the van will be needed to go to the new on-campus stops.
Original article:
Now the escort van won’t be your only way to get around.
University Police Department (UPD) Chief George Hughes is starting a new escort program called Mustang Patrol. It will begin in winter quarter.
The “patrol” will consist of a group of four to six students walking in groups of two through campus on popular designated routes that are not accessible by cars.
Easily identified by their yellow jackets, employees will work Thursday through Saturday circulating the core of campus with a radio to respond to students who want to be walked to certain parts of campus. The responder and the student simply agree on a meeting point, meet up and then walk to the student’s desired destination.
The meeting points are the Recreation Center, Kennedy Library, Poly Canyon Village (PCV) and other traditional student housing, Subway and the Julian A. McPhee University Union.
Employees will also be responsible for reporting suspicious activity on campus to corresponding officers on duty.
Through talking with Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) and Safer, Hughes saw people were looking for a more convenient escort patrol service besides the underused escort van.
“(The escort van) is vacant quite a bit,” Hughes said. “That’s why we have started limiting the hours on the weekends.”
This realization sparked Hughes’ interest in creating a different type of escort service.
The convenience of the walking escort service meets two needs, Hughes said.
“It expands our ability to give escorts and it is more of a security presence on campus,” he said. “When you see people on campus in yellow jackets, you know that there is a police presence.”
According to Hughes, the campus population has grown immensely and there is a greater need for this system compared to past years.
“The campus has done a good job of creating more events to keep students on campus,” he said. “If there is more people on campus, then we have to expand our services.”
To kickstart the service, Mustang Patrol is looking to hire 10-15 student employees. Students who are selected would also have the option to work for the patrol program or traffic management and direction during campus events.
“We are waiting to hire people and train them for this program to start,” Hughes said.
Applications for this program can be found on MustangJOBS.
Correction: A previous version of this post said Mustang Patrol would consist of both students and faculty. The post has been changed to say they will only consist of students.