CARA VAN METER
Assistant Art Editor
As the music ended and the band made its way back to the tour bus, two uniformed Public Safety officers directed students and other members of the Jars of Clay audience back to the parking lot, halting traffic until all the pedestrians made it safely across the street.
Public Safety’s role in special events actually extends beyond the routine traffic control, which is often the most visible aspect to attendees.
The department is present not only at major events like the highly anticipated and well-publicized campus visits made by high-profile political dignitaries like Sen. John Kerry (D—Mass.), California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, but also at smaller “individual events,” including many of the frequent gatherings hosted by President Andrew K. Benton at the Brock House, according to Assistant Director of Public Safety Dawn Emrich.
“We also have a huge presence at all the graduations and a strong presence at big events like Midnight Madness and Step Forward Day,” she said.
For large events, DPS partners with other security agencies. For an event like the Jars of Clay concert, the university’s contract requires about 10 to 12 security officers to be on site, meaning that the private company would bring in eight or nine people, Emrich said.
Larger events, like last December’s Jimmy Eat World concert, require more officers, partially because of an increased attendance rate overall and partially because of a higher number of attendees from off-campus, Emrich said.
The university works with a number of different private security companies depending on the situation, rather than relying on a specific agency, but the interaction between private security and DPS officials is relatively limited.
“If there was a situation that needed to be addressed—whether a medical emergency or a conduct-related concern about someone attending the concert—we would respond in tandem so that we would be able to manage the situation in a way that’s consistent with the way we handle critical situations at Pepperdine,” Emrich said.
Nevertheless, Emrich said the majority of the department’s experiences working with external private security have been very positive.
“You’re all there for generally the same purpose, so there’s some rapport based on that shared responsibility,” Emrich said.
The security company the university contracted for the Jars of Clay concert Nov. 4 was Absolute Protection, based in Lawndale, Calif. Wayne Wood, the owner/operator of the company, said he enjoyed working with Pepperdine’s Department of Public Safety and would like to do more with the university in the future.
“They’re very professional, very nice,” Wood said. “They do everything they can to make sure you have the equipment you need.”
Representatives of the Student Programming Board (SPB) said their experiences with DPS officials in special events settings have been less satisfactory. Senior Lianne Hope, who works as an event coordinator in the Student Activities office, said she has been consistently disappointed in Public Safety’s failure to complete tasks requested by Student Activities during New Student Orientation each fall. Hope said the problem seems to arise mainly in regard to locked classrooms and NSO volunteers’ inability to access these rooms, in spite of advance requests to have them unlocked.
“From my understanding, the problem is due to a lack of proper communication within Public Safety’s office and the management’s inefficiency in communicating with and delegating tasks to their own staff members,” Hope wrote in e-mail.
Senior Trent Allen, of SPB, said he appreciates Public Safety’s presence at special events but wishes officers would be more polite in their interaction with events staff and attendees.
“Image is everything, and when an officer approaches you with a negative attitude it doesn’t help the image of DPS overall,” Allen said.
On the other hand, Emrich said she found that officers generally adopt a good attitude about events staffing, in spite of the fact that most special events security coverage is in addition to officers’ regular shifts.
“I think officers generally like being assigned to special events, especially sporting events,” Emrich said, “But one of the challenges we face is that our staffing conditions are such that often officers who are working special events are coming in on their day off or adding on three or four hours at the end of their shift.
“They’re very generous with their time to sign up for special events, but ideally, our staffing conditions would be such that we’d have officers to spare on shift and just take them out of patrol.”
Officer Luis Quiroz said he likes working special events like the Jars of Clay concert, which he described as “smooth and quiet.” The crowds at special events are usually cooperative when Public Safety officers instruct them, according to Emrich.
“I find that people recognize that we are there to help them, so it seems to work out fine,” Emrich said.
11-16-2006
