September is National Campus Safety Awareness Month. As students first arrive on campus they can be bewildered and overwhelmed by the college experience. It’s the job of officers to keep order on campus, but that is sometimes easier said than done because college campuses are not immune to destructive behaviors and violence. Some issues that can impact college campuses are: high-risk drinking, illegal drug use, prescription drug abuse, hazing, hate crimes, stalking, relationship violence, and sexual assault.
This summer, the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy held six regional
Campus Sexual Assault Investigation training courses that were designed to educate campus peace officers, as well as municipal and county law enforcement professionals connected with colleges and universities, on issues relating to sexual assault, physical violence, and stalking on college campuses. The trainings were part of several initiatives launched by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine to help Ohio’s colleges and universities better respond to sexual assaults.
If you were unable to attend one of these trainings, OPOTA still offers many courses that can help officers deal with issues that may arise on campus, including OPOTA’s general
Sexual Assault Investigation course.
This course, which is open to all peace officers, will be offered in April 2016 and will address several topics, including:
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Investigation of the crime
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Suspect/victim interviews
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Report writing
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Crime scene evidence collection
You can
sign up for this course on the OPOTA course catalog beginning on Oct. 8, 2015.
Another course that can be beneficial to campus police officers is OPOTA’s
Street Drugs: Recognition and Identification course, because abusing drugs or alcohol is an ever increasing problem that threatens the safety of those on campus and off.
The training will update officers on current drug trends, substance identification, types of paraphernalia, and concealment locations.
This course, which is designed for all law enforcement and criminal justice professionals, will be only offered one more time this year. The course will be held at OPOTA’s London campus on
Sept. 30, 2015, and there is still time to sign up.
Visit the
OPOTA course catalog for more information and to register.