Laney Davis
The bell above the door rang as Police Chief Gann pushed through. He had a slight grin on his face, bags under his eyes, and a badge on his chest. The hallway smelled of printer ink and coffee, and one could hear faint laughter in another room. His deep, stern voice rumbled through out the empty building. Officer Gann welcomed me into his office.
He tapped his pencil on the table as he went into detail about the crime rate on campus. “It’s very low. We probably have one actual crime a month. Last year we had maybe two or three thefts. Alcohol offenses, marijuana offenses, and minor thefts are what we mainly deal with. Most of the thefts that we have occur, happen at the dorm. Most of it is because kids leave things lying around. They do not lock stuff up like they should.”
The school has a security system now. There are surveillance cameras set up in every hallway of the dorm and in the main buildings. They can watch everything that is happening at their main headquarters in the Central Plant. They are attentive and thoroughly spying to ensure the safety of every person on campus.
“It’s kind of hard to do something and get away with it,” Officer Gann jokes, “I like to think that part of that is due to us.”
The campus policemen are diligently working round the clock to guarantee the safety of every person on campus. Due to the low crime rate on campus, the officers do not always have much on their day-to-day agenda. The day shift and the night shift are very different from each other though. There is nothing set in stone for a day-to-day routine. The night shift officers are commanded to check every building and every door. To maintain protection all doors are locked. After all of this is done, they start making their rounds to the dorm where most of the activity occurs.
The daily routine for the “day shift officer” is much different. The officers have to be much more flexible. There is more traffic on campus then. “For the day shift guys,” Officer Gann pauses, “everybody is here so it is not so much checking doors. They unlock them for people who do not have keys. Of course they give rides (on campus police golf carts) back and forth to cars. They constantly check the dorms, and see if there is anything going on that needs their presence. You never know what is going to happen.” Officer Gann firmly states.
The officers at Texas A&M Texarkana are well trained. They have served at least 10 years for the city of Texarkana. Police Chief Officer Gann will not hire anybody that has not served as a cop before. They have already been through the Academy. In fact, every two years the campus policemen have to go back for at least 40 hours of retraining. Texas A&M Texarkana’s campus policemen are always ready for anything.
Not only are the policemen physically ready for anything on campus, but they also have certified federal military equipment ready for use. “We have a military hummer, a police car, police radios, golf carts, and, of course, guns. The department has purchased everything except for the hummer. We got it from the federal government. It is old military surplus that the military did not destroy,” Officer Gann explains.“ The government does not use it anymore, so they loan it out. The police department had to fill out federal paperwork to receive the hummer and pick it up in Louisiana. Texas A&M Texarkana is allowed by the government to keep it as long as they want. Since the school has acquired this bullet-proof and fully armored military vehicle, it has undergone a new paint job to enhance the school’s pride.
The campus policemen at Texas A&M-Texarkana will do whatever it takes to maintain the well-being of students and faculty on campus. Police Chief Gann recommends everyone be aware of where they are and what they are doing at all times. If anything is to happen at Texas A&M-Texarkana, the campus police will be fully prepared.