Auraria Police Department

Julie ScohyMedia WritingIn Class Exercise
Auraria Police Department is an institution that everyone on campus knows exists, but many student, staff, and faculty are unaware of their purpose. All day long walking around campus you see police cars, bicycles, and golf carts all with the APS logo on them. If you’re driving, they’re usually maliciously driving behind you just waiting to hand you a “failed to stop at stop sign” citation. Or else you might see them hanging out waiting for a meter to expire, or maybe all you’ve seen are their empty cars parking in “no parking zones.” The fact is there is a police department on campus, whether you deem them helpful or not would be based off your experiences with them.
The services provided by Auraria Police that many people on campus appreciate include rides from campus to a student’s car after dark, lock outs, and cold calls for stolen books or back packs on campus. A few of the duties of officers that students aren’t so thrilled about would be their parking and driving citations and boots. These officers have City of Denver authority so the citations are from the state, not from the campus itself. There are mainly male officers that patrol campus. There is one female officer. They have 14 vehicles to patrol with, as well as nine bicycles, and two golf carts. The dispatchers on duty are mainly female. Their dispatch office is located in the Administrative building off of 5th street on campus. Their phone number is (303) 556-5000.
There are mixed emotions about the police department on campus. Some people say they feel safe knowing there are officers on duty 24 hours a day, where as other people feel that Auraria Police are “Denver Police Department scraping the bottom of the barrel,” (Jose Montes, 31). The point that made APS unconvincing of their authority would be the quote I received from an officer on duty. I asked for a quote about what their purpose is, what their known for, or what he as an officer is proud of. The response I received was “Community service,” (Officer Bradley 951). Auraria Police Department is campus security, who we should trust, but do we?