Trinidad State College will welcome a full time police officer to the Trinidad Campus this fall. Under an agreement approved recently by the Trinidad City Council, the officer will be on campus from Monday through Friday from noon to 8 p.m.
“It will be similar to what we do at Trinidad High School and more, because of activities at the college year round,” said Police Chief Charles Glorioso. “Anytime that officer isn’t there, we’ll supplement that with other staff. So if it’s the scheduled officer’s day off, then we’ll cover that with our current staff.” Glorioso said that will include weekend on-campus sporting events, like the college’s annual high school basketball tournament.
Trinidad State will pay the City $55,000 a year for this service. This allows the college to end its agreement with a private security company for services at the Trinidad Campus. “We believe this move is right for us,” said Trinidad State President Dr. Carmen Simone. “It allows us to solidify an already great relationship with the Trinidad Police Department. It also streamlines communications and better integrates our campus with our neighbors. Partnerships such as this are great for the community.”
“We’ve been really successful at the high school with the resource officer,” said Glorioso. Having a dedicated officer there has been a good resource for the school and for us as well, because you get that rapport between the students and the officer. And it gives the student body an officer to go to, as well as the faculty, too. We’ve probably gotten as much out of it as the school district. I can see the same thing happening here and maybe to a bigger degree because the college is larger (than the high school).”
The officer will have an office on campus and will be a highly visible presence. Duties will include crime prevention, monitoring parking lots and pedestrian walkways, making sure buildings are secure, checking buildings for unlocked doors and malfunctioning systems and investigating on-campus incidents.
At Trinidad High School a radio system has been set up to allow school staff members to talk directly with the officer on campus. Glorioso hopes that can also happen at Trinidad State. “It’s a win-win,” he said. Glorioso expects to have the officer in place on campus when the fall semester begins on August 22.