Once all the classes have been attended and the sun has settled into the Mississippi River, the Southern University Baton Rouge campus is blanketed by the mysterious shade of nightfall, a time when the university’s police department kicks it into high gear to secure the campus and its’ students.
On Wednesday, Oct. 4, the Southern University Police Department was subjected to a typical night of after dark patrolling, which began at 7:12 p.m.
That night, the air, and sky, was clear accompanied by a 77 degree temperature which added favor to the building lights that shined throughout the university while students prepared for midterms and others enjoyed the beauty of the campus.
“My typical evening on campus is usually observing incoming vehicles, making sure students have appropriate identification and securing the residential checkpoint,” said Byron Cage, a SUPD officer who has been on the force for 11 years.
At 7:32pm, Cage was bombarded with a parade of vehicles lining up to get admittance to the school’s residential halls. Cage had to stop each vehicle to ensure passengers had valid identification before entering the campus’ perimeter.
“If students do not have the proper ID or do not have any identification, they will be turned around,” Cage said. “This is to ensure the safety of (our) students.”
At 8:03 p.m., the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office changed shifts with SUPD to maintain supervision on the south gate checkpoint.
As SUPD and the EBR Parish Sheriff’s Office secured the campus premises, dispatchers attend to phone calls and monitored the campus buildings.
“In order for the campus to provide safety we need students to call when there’s an emergency,” said Suzette Burton, police and shuttle dispatcher for SUPD. “Instead of walking on campus at night by themselves, students should feel free to call (the) police department so that we can arrange for the shuttle to pick students up and bring them to a designated location on campus or off campus.”
The campus Jag Train runs from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the Southern University Shuttle Bus operates from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m., seven days a week.
“Students fail to realize that the shuttle is included in their tuition and they are not using it,” Burton said. “My daughter attends this university and I feel more comfortable knowing she is safe riding in a shuttle then her walking late at night by herself.”
At 9:14 p.m., the university police force prepares the campus for a “lock-down”.
“My duty as a sergeant is to supervise shifts, roll-call for the policemen, follow-up on cases, investigating incoming calls while actively investigate cases and speak on safety seminars,” said Sgt. Floyd Williams.
Williams, a Baton Rouge native, has been a policeman for 29 years. He has 11 years experience with the Baton Rouge Police Department, eight years in the marines and seven years with SUPD.
“I wasn’t always a policemen as it seems,” Williams said. “I was a store manager for 17 years prior to me entering the force.”
“My desire to become a police officer was because I was always the public contact and always wanted to serve the community,” Williams said.
Around 9:52 p.m., Jesse Stone, Swan Street and at the F.G. Clark Activity Center, the north and south gates are barricaded to prevent outsiders from wandering onto the campus.
Williams said the time-consuming duty of being a SUPD officer has yet to wane his dedication and loyalty to servicing the campus and its surrounding community.
“In this field, you have to know that once you receive a call, its mandatory that you answer the call and sometimes those calls are life and death situations,” Williams said.
When asked about his personal involvement with life and death situations, “I was the officer that had to intervene the heated argument between 59-year-old Freddie Jackson and the security guard that was hired by a private landowner.”
“Keeping Jackson’s family members calm while trying to consult the gunman and attend to the victim is all part of the call and you must answer being an officer,” Williams said.
Around 10:01 p.m., the Southern University campus streets were closed down. JPS security monitored the north and south gate of campus while and post lights scanned campus grounds keeping outsiders from entering.
Although some may feel SUPD is diminutive in officers on campus, they do however have the proper police amenities such as the EBR Parish Sheriff Office, Constables and licensed private security officers to ensure the campus, and the SU community, are protected.
Not only do they investigate crimes committed on campus, Williams said the force sometimes gets involved with cases that spill into the campus’ surrounding community.
“Our biggest crime on campus is drug usage,” he said. “Students don’t realize that using drugs victimizes others to feed their habit, which causes the (drugee) to commit a crime they normally would not do.”
Williams said students should ask questions and seek knowledge for safety instead of running from the police. He assures that SUPD is here to help and not hurt.
“I’m impressed with this year’s SGA president, Niiobli Armah for taking the initiative of executing change and responsibility within ourselves,” Williams said. “The march against violence that took place on September 20 was inspiring working in this field.”
“I believe Armah is the next generation of Cleo Fields as a black collegian leader,” Williams said.