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The University of Texas at Austin Police Department

Annual Report

Founded in 1968, UTPD continues to uphold its mission to serve and protect. The department has the same authority and responsibilities as most municipal police organizations and has

challenges unique to a large, nationally recognized university community.

UTPD employs more than 130 dedicated individuals interested in making a positive difference on campus. In keeping with its

community oriented policing philosophy, the department regularly partners with faculty, staff, and students on crime prevention

and law enforcement programs. UTPD is accredited through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies.

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MissionTo protect the university through professional policing and through leadership of community partnerships, while fostering the educational mission of the university.

Vision * To support a climate of excellence. * To promote an organization that commands the respect of our peers. * To enrich the quality of life of our community.

MottoService, Community, Excellence

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The University of Texas at Austin Police Department

Annual Report

2007

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A Message from the Chief

Another banner year for the University of Texas Police Department. In 2007 the department was accredited by CALEA which is an internationally recognized agency. Only 700 agencies are accredited in the United States and only four universities in the State of Texas. This was a great accomplishment that took a lot of effort by many staff members. While we are proud to have been accredited, the hard part is just beginning. Reaccreditation takes much more work. It is an ongoing, day-to-day process that basically ensures we are doing the job correctly and documenting what we do.

Also in 2007 we began a major renovation project that ended with a new dispatch center and emergency operations center in the summer of 2008. This has been a great improvement that supports our efforts to make the UT campus the safest in America.

The police department is fully dedicated to working with our customers whether it is a student, faculty member, staff or visitor to assist them in any way we can. We practice community policing--a process of problem solving with our customers in the community. All of our units are fully dedicated to this process and our employees fully support our vision, goals, motto and mission.

This report features highlights of what we did in 2007 to achieve our three goals: 1) A safe and secure environment for students, faculty and staff; 2) A professionally accredited organization;

and 3) Manage and build a professional policing organization.

We hope after you’ve read the annual report you’ll take the time to visit our web site at www.utexas.edu/police and sign up for up-to-the-minute reports on issues on campus. It takes all of our employees and each of you to commit to the goal of making our campus safe, TOGETHER we will be successful. My thanks to everyone committed to this endeavor.

Chief Robert Dahlstrom

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Table of Contents

Goal 1: A safe and secure environment for students, faculty and staff

Goal 2: A professionally accredited organization

Goal 3: Manage and build a professional policing organization

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Goal 1: A safe and secure environment for students, faculty and staff

UTPD creates a safe, secure environment on campus through a variety of efforts, including crime prevention, criminal investigation, and community outreach.

Empowering Women through Rape Aggression Defense Training

Since 2001, UTPD has trained women in Rape Aggression Defense (RAD), and the number of RAD-certified women on the university campus has multiplied every year since. The training program is free, and it teaches women simple self-defense skills that are empowering and have proved effective against various types of assault.

Jeanne Acton is one of the 176 women on campus who completed the RAD training program in 2007, and, for her, the experience had a profound and very personal impact. Earlier in the year Acton was robbed in the University Interscholastic League parking lot, and she learned about RAD soon after reporting the crime to UTPD. Acton completed basic RAD in the summer of 2007 and says, “It gave me a sense of peace and empowerment, and made me feel like I wasn’t a victim anymore.”

UTPD holds a series of four-day RAD classes every month, and participants are allowed to

spread their attendance out over several months in order to fit all the training into their schedules. For convenience, RAD classes also take place in a variety of locations around campus. Acton notes how one of the program’s appeals in the beginning was the fact that UTPD scheduled one of the RAD classes near her office in the University Interscholastic League building.

Acton had such a positive experience with the program that she went on to take advanced RAD, and she says many of her female coworkers have followed in her footsteps by becoming RAD certified. “I really enjoyed the program and the instructors,” Acton concludes, “and it’s given me a stronger sense of safety everywhere.”

Achieving Safety through Successful Criminal Investigation

The Criminal Investigation Unit keeps the university campus safe by collecting and evaluating physical evidence, interviewing witnesses and complainants, and interrogating suspects in an effort to solve crimes. Several such crimes solved in 2007 were the thefts of brass drain grates from the Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ) Memorial Library Plaza.

13 drain grates were reported stolen in June and 16 were stolen in July, sparking criminal investigations by Detective Michael Riojas of UTPD. Upon looking into these crimes, Riojas determined that the drain grates were likely stolen for the purpose

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of selling the metal for profit. These crimes actually coincided with a nationally developing trend of copper, aluminum, and brass thefts as a result of the rising prices of these metals in 2007.

The stolen drain grates were made of brass and designed specifically for the LBJ building, each one valued at $150. Riojas examined the remaining grates in the LBJ Plaza thoroughly, so he was easily able to describe and identify the stolen grates when he visited local metal sellers as part of his investigation on July 25. The very same day, Riojas found three of the stolen grates at Austin Metal & Iron and 16 at CMC Metal Recycling.

With the help of managers from these local businesses, Riojas followed paper trails and retrieved sworn affidavits that eventually led to arresting and charging three people with state jail felony for the thefts. The investigation also yielded the recovery of most of the stolen grates, with a total recovered value of $2,850.

While You Were Sleeping: Crime Prevention Goes to the Movies

In response to a rash of personal-property thefts that occurred while students were sleeping in the Texas Student Union, UTPD’s Crime Prevention Unit developed a safety campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of falling asleep in public places. It became known as the Mr. Sandman Campaign and it incorporated multiple forms of media, ranging from videos to

flyers.

UTPD shot and produced two comedic videos for the campaign. Both videos starred an officer dressed up as Mr. Sandman, an old-school cat burglar who steals from students sleeping in public places. The videos also staged various theft scenarios, and featured helpful crime prevention tips. One video was filmed in black and white and used old music and intertitles as a humorous tribute to silent films, and the other video was in color with spoken dialogue and a more modern feel.

In addition to these one-minute videos that were shown at safety fairs, UTPD created informational Mr. Sandman slideshows for the plasma screens in the Union. UTPD also made Mr. Sandman flyers that officers left by students found sleeping in the Union, campus libraries, or other public places.

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According to Officer William Pieper, the campaign was successful and, “There was a drop in the amount of thefts due to people falling asleep in the Union.” Pieper says UTPD plans to do similar multimedia campaigns on the topics of bike and office thefts.

Safety in Numbers: Using Statistics to Prevent Crime

The Support Services Unit and patrol shifts now use crime statistics to gain awareness of safety issues and trends on campus. Roxanne Hodgins, an administrative associate within the department, began providing crime analysis data to these officers in 2007. Hodgins compiles the reports on a monthly basis and says, “The data gives officers a better idea of what criminal activity has taken place, and it lets them know if there are any trends occurring.”

Goal 2: A professionally accredited organization

Over the course of 2007, UTPD worked hard to achieve and maintain national accreditation.

National Accreditation Earned

UTPD became accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) on July 28, 2007. This distinction was a result of tireless work on the parts of Lieutenant Darrell Birdett and Officer Vivian Benavides, as well as the entire department.

This accreditation represents UTPD’s professionalism and the ways in which the department’s vigilant prevention, enforcement and community presence measure up to CALEA’s 446 standards. To uphold this honor, UTPD will seek reaccreditation every three years, and will continue monitoring department activities and practices to ensure they meet CALEA standards in preparation

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for an on-site visit by CALEA assessors in 2010.

CALEA is the internationally recognized authority on law enforcement standards, and UTPD is proud to be among the more than 700 elite law enforcement agencies in the United States that are CALEA accredited.

Early Warning System Helps UTPD Meet CALEA Standards

In 2007, UTPD developed a program that tracks incidents of risk, such as car accidents, and gives written warnings to officers. UTPD started the program in response to a CALEA standard that calls for policing organizations to have a system that identifies agency employees who may require interventions.

The early warning system tracks fleet collisions, use of sick leave and vacation time, as well as pursuits and use of force, in an effort to see if there are concerning patterns. Lieutenant Amber Calvert says, “This supports professionalism and tracking, because by tracking issues you can identify trends and try to deal with them before they become problems.”

Patterns identified by the program may indicate professional or personal issues. For example, driving records could show that an employee needs to take defensive driving, whereas patterns of sick leave use could help track mental health issues of officers.

Calvert affirms, “I like the program because we would hate to find out that an officer’s been having problems and we didn’t notice until it was too late. Whenever you notice something too late, you wonder if you could have seen it sooner—well, this system helps you see it sooner.”

Goal 3: Manage and build a professional policing organization

UTPD gets its strength from recruiting, training, and retaining exceptional staff members.

Recruiting Top Talent for the Future

UTPD’s professional, highly trained police force wouldn’t be what it is today without the department’s recruiting efforts. For this reason, UTPD has ongoing initiatives to recruit a diverse group of exceptional individuals who seek growth and challenge and want to undergo rigorous training at the cadet academy.

In 2007, the Internet proved a great recruiting resource. Not only did the department start regularly advertising on Craigslist.org, but UTPD’s own Web site generated a lot of interest from new recruits.

UTPD also made recruiting documents and testing registration available online through their Web site, which gave recruiting a big boost in 2007. Sergeant Laura Davis says, “Putting the testing registration online and having downloadable forms made the biggest difference in recruiting. It also helped us attract potential recruits from out of town.”

In addition to online initiatives, career fairs played a major role in recruitment this year. The department went to a variety of career fairs, ranging in topic from liberal arts, to communications, to criminal justice. Giving presentations at a wide array of career fairs (not just law-enforcement fairs) is yet another way that the department ensures its commitment to recruiting individuals from diverse backgrounds.

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Staff Spotlight: Admin of the Year Debbie Staten

Debbie Staten joined UTPD in January 2004, and she is a shining example of how staff members make the department what it is. In fact, Staten won UTPD’s Admin of the Year Award in 2007 in recognition of everything she does for the organization.

As an administrative associate, Staten handles a lot of the department’s budgetary planning and troubleshooting. According to Staten, this is one of her favorite parts of working with UTPD: “I like the accounting aspects of my job, because I like working with numbers and solving problems.”

Staten began working on the budget her second year with UTPD and says, “This was when experience really meant a lot. I had to figure out why the budget wasn’t aligning, which was a big challenge, but it eventually worked out.”

Staten has done the budget every year since, and her efforts help UTPD save money and even discover extra funds. “My goal is to identify the money we have so the department can spend it where it needs to be spent,” she notes.

“I think UTPD’s the greatest place to work,” says Staten. “Having amazing people to work with, you don’t mind getting up and coming to the office in the morning.”

Staten worked at Texas A&M prior to joining UTPD’s administrative team, and she has 28 years of state service under her belt. She did the department’s budget in 2007, and plans to do it for many more years.

Training Above and Beyond

UTPD staff members completed the following types of training in addition to the standard requirements of the department’s licensing body, the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education (TCLEOSE):

• The entire department completed Defensive Driving to comply with rules on driving university vehicles. Sergeant Chris Myers and Sergeant Gary Peoples, both certified Defensive Driving instructors, taught the classes to all other UTPD employees.

• The following three people attended a 40-hour Basic Instructor Course: Sergeant Samuel Ferguson, Officer Chris Bonnet, and Officer Stephen Schlather. The course is designed to teach police how to be effective educators, and upon successful completion students take a state exam to become certified as instructors with TCLEOSE.

• The following three officers attended a 40-hour Firearms Instructor Course: Sergeant Jose Pena, Sergeant Greg Stephenson, and Officer Chris Bonnet. This course is an extended week of instructor training that involves firearms education and teaches students to develop firearms courses.

• 15 officers attended Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT), which is a 16-hour course that trains officers in techniques for responding to active shooters. The department sends all officers through the training at some point.

• 11 officers attended the Hidden Hazards Program. The program is presented by the Austin Police Department and is designed to teach officers how to take care of each other and watch for warning signs of abuse and addiction to drugs or alcohol.

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2005 – 2007 Crime Statistics

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As Diverse as our Campus, As Unique as You

The UniversiTy of Texas aT aUsTin Police DePartment