LUPD Chief Curtis Stewart recently sat down with The Gazette to talk about his police force and how this semester has been going for them regarding student life. He talked about major subjects that have been concerning to students and what students can do to stay safe.
According to the latest Langston safety report, there has been a decrease in liquor law arrests. He credited this to his officers doing more counseling and discarding the alcohol.
“They’ve gone down because a lot of it’s not being recorded, because we do more of a council session. Try not to ruin their college career.”
Although he also said there has been an increase in public intoxication, officers still do their best to not arrest students.
When it comes to the increase in tickets, he talked about how students need to have proper registration and insurance to drive in Oklahoma.
“You don’t want to have an accident and then don’t have insurance. So, they get a little upset about that, but it’s the law,” Stewart said.
He also talked about how students can stay safe, and that’s to just stay out of trouble. Students don’t want to remain in an area if something bad is happening. He also said the main people causing problems on campus are non-students.
“I think the students are kind of slowing down on the fights and things like that, it’s just the non-students that are coming up here, seeing their friends.”
Stewart was happy with the way homecoming went this year. There were no major issues that they received, and the officers were well backed up. He said that with some programs he put in place he was able to get some help and extra men from surrounding agencies, like the Guthrie police.
Stewart personally trains all his officers on topics like law enforcement classes, pursuit driving, and active shooters. He certifies all his officers in the summer and has previously certified a SWAT team. He said that his officers are trained and are not going to take students to jail for no reason. For Stewart, LUPD is not here to destroy a student’s college career, they are here to protect them.
Damien Alexander
Damien Alexander is a senior broadcast journalism major
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