U-W Campus Police Understaffed

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Posted: Thu 8:23 PM, Dec 22, 2005

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Reporter: Erica Dao

Updated: Thu 11:31 PM, Dec 22, 2005

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U-W Campus Police Understaffed

Video will be available shortly.

U-W Eau Claire students have a reason to feel safe. The campus police department says it's dedicated to maintaining a high standard of safety.
"We feel the university police are adequately staffed with police officers to respond to emergencies and to respond to our calls for service," said Chief David Sprick of U-W-E-C Police Department.
However, a new report warns police and security units are understaffed on smaller U-W campuses and are struggling to maintain 24 hour security because of budget cuts.
U-W Eau Claire's vice chancellor, Andrew Soll, is pleased with the campuses' security, but says there is always room for improvement.
"There are things we could be doing in terms of educational programs, crime and prevention activities. Those types of things would be very useful and important-significant to the campus," said Andrew Soll, vice chancellor of U-W-E-C.
U-W-E-C has 10 full-time and four part time police officers, which is short of the national standard. The national association for campus police recommends two police officers per 1,000 students, but the U-W system's ratio is only one per 1,000.
"We could use more staffing to do the things that the police could be very helpful with. I'm also concerned our staffing for the police department may be eroded by future budget deductions," said Soll.
"We work very closely with other law enforcement agencies in the area Eau Claire sheriff's office, state patrol if necessary; if there is a major incident that would require more police personnel on scene," said Sprick.
The audit results will be presented to the U-W System Board of Regents this spring.

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