Campus Safety Vs. Auxilliary Police

At PLU, we have a fantastic campus safety department. They handle building lock ups and monitor parking lots. They also do write ups for alcohol on campus and noise violations. At UDSM, we also have campus safety, but it's a little different. The local security/militia trains one or two days a week - complete with long runs and chants. It looks like a military work out. Then there are the guns. In addition to the physical training they receive, they also get arms training. When they are doing their training near the soccer field, it is easy to see the wooden rifles stacked not too far away. It is quite normal to see a man in full military dress on my way to class, armed to the teeth with an automatic rifle sitting outside of the mail drop across from the bank that is by the cafeteria. They are all over campus. I think my favorite is the lady who sits outside of our building. She looks likes your grandma, but I'd never cross her since the man sitting next to her has a sawed off shotgun. Yes, I'm safe. :)

It’s an entirely different perspective on keeping students safe. It seems like more of their security is a display as part of prevention than dealing with actual incidents. The other observation is the only residence hall I’ve seen security in front of is our hall. I’m curious to see if that changes once school starts and more halls have students living in them or if the security is here because this is the hall where international students live and thieves assume that we all have rooms full of valuables? Over all I feel safer during the day when I can see around me. Nights are a little sketchy since the campus is open and it is so large. I’ve met my fair share of interesting individuals with mental health issues on campus. They just seem to wander around all day. Luckily, I’ve only met them in the day light.