The University of Maryland Police Auxiliary provides services to the campus and College Park community that go beyond the typical duties of the school’s police officers.
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The 30-year-old program hires full-time students attending the university to patrol the nearly 2-square-mile campus plus satellite buildings that the Police Auxiliary is contracted to protect, and personally escort people around campus who want security when they walk around alone.
It’s a cost-effective alternative to hiring additional police officers, said Lt. Jeffrey Killion, unit commander for the program.
The Police Auxiliary employs more than 70 students, who are assigned to one of several locations on the University of Maryland campus and beyond; the scope of the program extends as far as Hyattsville.
The employees of the Police Auxiliary, known as student police aides, are the “extra eyes and ears” of the University Police Department, Killion said.
The aides wear uniforms while on duty and often are confused with campus parking officials or even police officers. But they do not have the power to make arrests, write parking tickets or cite anyone on campus for infractions, Killion said.
However, aides carry police radios and are instructed to report any security hazards they might see.
The main service that aides proved to the general community is the 24-hour escort availability. At any time, an aide will walk anyone to or from a car or building.
Aides patrolling in cars around campus have equipment to jump-start a car or help someone locked out of their vehicle. And aides won’t turn anyone away who needs help, Killion said, be it a student or a local from College Park.
“It’s viewed overall as a service arm,” Killion said, “rather than an enforcement arm of the police department.”
