Public Safety creates community among members

In their office, walkie-talkies hum the steady sounds of static and husky voices reporting updates. The dispatcher is busy answering an officer’s incoming call while watching the monitor’s security camera feeds. Down the white-walled hallway detectives stare at their computers while jotting down notes.

It’s one of the quieter moments at the Georgia College Department of Public Safety. Some officers are patrolling in the community and others are getting ready for their shifts that start later that night. The staff that makes up their team is devoted not only to their tasks at hand but also to one another.

A smaller precinct than those on larger college campuses, Public Safety is a close-knit group that consists of 18 staff members. Detective Michael Baker has been working there since he graduated from Georgia College in 2006.

“With us being a smaller department I think that helps with making bonds stronger,” Baker said. “Whereas at a large department you might walk up to another officer wearing the same uniform and you don’t know his name, around here you know everybody.”

Compared to the University of Georgia Police Department, which has over 60 officers, and the Georgia Tech Police Department, which has six divisions, Georgia College’s Public Safety officers have a better likelihood of bonding with their coworkers in day-to-day assignments. With a smaller unit everyone is utilized and called upon.

One of the main reasons for the staff being so close-knit is their reliance on each other for protection, especially when on patrol.

“Safety is always the biggest concern,” Baker said. “You are always backing each other up. Sometimes you get yourself in stressful situations, and we all fall on each other to help in those times. There is definitely a sense of family in that aspect.”

Whether out on Thursday nights answering noise complaints or arresting an underage drinker, Georgia College officers must be able to trust one another. Their unity is especially tested when a tragedy marks their path. In September 2001 a student they had frequently interacted with committed suicide. It affected them all, according to Detective Robert Butler, since the student had completed service hours with them in the past.

“We got to know him on a first name basis when he would wash our cars,” Butler said. “We didn’t realize he was in a hard place.”

The student had been in trouble with the Georgia College Student Judicial Board and his assignment was washing the Georgia College patrol cars for his community service hours. The officers would talk to him about his life and about being part of a fraternity. They knew that one day he wanted to be a state ranger.

One night after drinking downtown he got into a disagreement with his girlfriend. When he went back to his house he used his shotgun to kill himself. It shocked his family, friends, the community and the officers.

“He had so much to offer and then he went and did that. It made us all remember that you never know what’s going through a guy’s mind. I never would think he would do something like that. He was a good kid,” Butler said. “I still feel like that case was just recently because I still think of him often.”

There are cases that are tougher on the officers emotions and this is when they have to really pull together as a team. In 2010 when a young man was stabbed on Halloween on Clarke Street, the squad had to unite to handle the case. The investigation had to be thorough with extensive interviews, and then there were lots of paperwork to be filed.

“We all share a common goal and that’s kind of what pulls everybody together,” Baker said. “It’s about teamwork– whether working the fraud case or whether you are out trying to pull drunks off the road or break up fights. You definitely cannot be ‘robo-cop’ and go it alone. Everyone is limited and you definitely have to make those connections to get the job done.”

Butler agrees that teamwork is essential, especially when the staff spends so many hours together in close proximity.

“Camaraderie is important,” Butler said. “I spend more time with them than I do my own family because I am here 10 to 12 hours a day sometimes. When you spend a lot of time together it is almost as if you are family.”

Just like when a member of their real families is going through a situation, such as bad health or relationship issues, if another officer is going through a situation they often are affected by that.

“A lot of other employees’ feelings become your feelings, if there is something that is happening or going on in their life you share that with them,” Butler said.

Public Safety also has a tradition of having a Christmas Party for the officers and their families. This past Christmas the party was in The Den. In the summer they sometimes have cook-outs together at West Campus.

However, Baker and officers keep in mind at the same time their position is first and foremost a job.

“(Camaraderie) is good but it can be bad too,” Baker said. “If you forget that this is a job then that could actually hinder work.”