Campus police stay busy over break


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Although students were largely absent from Central Michigan University’s campus over the winter break, the CMU Police Department were not vacation. CMUPD spent a majority of their time training and assisting other local agencies.

Over winter break, students are given ample time to relax after a semester of working day in and day out.

When the campus is closed the Central Michigan University Police Department is still at work preparing for another semester of keeping the campus safe.

"It's pretty quiet over break," said Lieutenant Larry Klaus. "But we're still busy."

From when CMU closed on Dec. 13 to when the campus re-opened Jan. 5, 16 incidents were reported in the daily crime log. This resulted in five arrests. 

Officers responded to retail fraud complaint at the Walmart located on Encore Boulevard on Dec. 15. CMPUD assisted the Isabella County Sheriff's Department in arresting the suspect, who fled police on foot. 

CMUPD officers made the arrest outside the Biolife Plasma Blood Donation Center on East Bluegrass Road.

Police also arrested a suspect who attempted to cash fraudulent electronic checks Dec. 16. The checks were faked to appear to be issued by the university.

Construction equipment was damaged on East Campus Drive Dec. 19. Windows were broken in two vehicles, totaling $1,300 in damages.

On Jan. 4 a window was broken in Celani Hall.

Lt. Cameron Wassman said there is never a slow day in Mount Pleasant, but all agencies benefit from the downtime after students return home.

"It allows police agencies to do what they need to do. We take advantage of it for training, we are patrolling and doing a variety of things," Wassman said. "It's not a vacation."

CMUPD takes full advantage of winter break time to training officers, patrol the campus and maintain equipment. The officers also maintain their social media presence, informing the Mount Pleasant community through school closings and winter weather advisories. 

"We work on procedural training, appropriate use of force and we practice with arms, weather permitting," Klaus said.

CMUPD ensures all of the administrative and residential buildings on campus remain secure, as well as monitoring the safety of vehicles left on campus.

"We are routinely checking to make sure that nothing gets broken into," Klaus said.

Beyond their training and routine patrolling, CMUPD uses the break time to perform maintenance on all their equipment, as well as assisting other local police including Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribal Police and the Mount Pleasant Police Department.

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