Central Oregon Community College is back to using campus security to patrol Bend and Redmond campuses after ending its contract with Bend Patrol Services in spring 2024.
COCC President Dr. Laurie Chesley hired a consultant to review the campus safety and management department in 2020. Low staffing levels due to COVID-19 had reduced safety services so the consultant recommended putting the department into limbo. Bend Patrol Services was needed to augment campus security and safety management.
COCC’s safety management department had a chance to determine its vision and mission moving forward with campus security, COCC planned on ending this contract with Bend Patrol Services once they were able to rebuild and restructure their department to align with benefiting and meeting COCC’s safety needs.
“COCC campus security can now be independent,” said Cory Darling, COCC’s Director of Campus Safety and Emergency Department. “Roger was the only staffing that we had at that time, but now we’re up to a level of staffing where we can provide the services to the college, to include Redmond Campus.”
Darling explained that during the hiring process, they train their staff to understand better the mission and campus safety needs and what they need to do to provide safety services to the college. Hired staff have to attend 14 hours of basic training through the Department of Safety Services in Salem, OR to receive their certification to be a security officer and an in-house 40-hour de-escalation training through Deschutes County. Darling also said, “With whatever other training we see would benefit them and benefit the college, we provide that as well.”
Ending the contract with Bend Patrol Services opened up substantial funding and full-time jobs for campus safety at COCC. Darling mentioned, “Having staff members on campus all the time reduces that response time.”
Rozina Lethe, COCC’s assistant director of housing/residence Life, said that “Campus security is always willing and available to respond to incidents in Wickiup Hall for Staff…I know Campus Security has been working really hard to make their program the best it can be.”
Lethe collaborates with COCC campus security to make sure the building is up to date with all of the safety according to the county fire marshal.
Darling mentioned that Bend Patrol Services could only provide limited service for COCC as they didn’t have access to all of the buildings. When they would respond to an intrusion alarm for example, they wouldn’t have the ability to go inside and would check the exterior of the building, if that checked out, they would cancel the service call. COCC’s safety security team can ensure everything’s safe before canceling the service calls.
Casey Bunday a student at COCC who has been attending the college since 2022, reported having to use safety services on campus. Bunday stated, “Officer Roger appeared immediately at the scene of the incident.” Bunday also stated, “Roger was very effective in de-escalating the incident and removing all aggressive parties from campus grounds, and finely ensured that the individuals bothered felt heard and safe on campus grounds.”
Bend Patrol Services offered scheduled times when they would patrol Redmond and Bend campuses, whereas COCC staff is able to patrol at all times Monday-Friday, and also be able to provide a network with all staff and faculty, and the students on campus as one of their missions is “to build those solitary relationships,” said Darling. COCC’s security team can provide more holistic services.
Bend and Redmond campuses are patrolled by COCC’s safety management team at this time due to very low occurrences at the other COCC locations. If something does pop up, their faculty and staff are aware and prepared to call local law enforcement if anything arises.
Campus Security wants students to rely on calling 911 for emergencies to ensure appropriate services are provided as soon as possible. Darling mentioned that they frequently respond to medical emergencies like allergic reactions, medical issues, and complaints of cardiac issues. COCC security addresses these concerns with medics and support to determine if they need further support. They receive mental health calls frequently, and the COCC safety team offers somebody to talk to when students are feeling too stressed for example.
Information regarding this change at COCC was given to the communications department, which includes but is not limited to numbers to call with any concerns with the services they provide.
