By Laura Hoksbergen

Features Co-Editor

Of all the people on campus, the Campus Safety Officers are probably the least secure - from flying snowballs and rude remarks, that is.

``We could definitely use some help in the PR department,'' said Mark Zandstra, one of the Campus Safety supervisors.

``I don't think people realize everything we do,'' said Mike Bantjes, a student officer. ``We are working around the clock.''

So, we pose the question. What do they do?

``There are different ways to spend a shift,'' said Zandstra. ``I usually start out by driving around and checking the parking lots.

I make sure that there aren't any people going around looking in all the cars, or people who spend long periods of time just sitting in the cars.''

If people are not students and have no real reason to be on campus, the supervisors and the officers are authorized to ask them to leave.

The supervisor is usually on duty with two student officers. One of them is in a patrol car and is responsible for making Financial Services' deposit as well as driving and surveying the campus. The other is on foot.

``The officer on foot goes through the buildings, checking to make sure the doors are locked properly and looking out for things that are out of the ordinary,'' Zandstra explained.

``We check the keys on the doors, check the fire panels and make sure that the people in the buildings are those who are allowed to be there at that time,'' said Bantjes. ``This is especially important later at night.''

The patrolling becomes especially important as the weather gets warmer.

``People tend to shy away from cold weather,'' Zandstra said. ``Now that the weather is nicer, people get out a lot more so we have to keep more of an eye on the parking lots. And also for students who burn couches.''

Then there are cases where an actual crime is committed.

``We had a rash of car thefts last fall,'' Zandstra said. ``We eventually caught the thief and there hasn't been as much of that recently.''

While the campus appreciated Campus Safety in the car theft case, there is really very little friendly contact between the students and the officers. Because of his background in social work, Zandstra especially regrets not being able to connect more with the students.

``If people lock their keys in their car or have a dead battery, then I get to talk to students. Other than that, there is very little contact with the students,'' Zandstra said.

``I like being able to help people,'' he continued, ``and being able to work with the student officers who have lots of questions and are working out their future.''

The division of Campus Safety that has the most contact with the students is probably the escort service.

There are four or five different escort drivers who work every night from 6 p.m. until 2 a.m. These drivers (all male) work for Campus Safety but are not trained to be officers.

``I just signed up to drive,'' says Jason Lore, a student who has been an escort driver for over a year.

The escort service continuously receives complaints for taking too long or for leaving students stranded.

``People don't realize that the officers who are driving around campus don't pick up escorts,'' said Lore. ``So I get blamed for driving by people... The trick is to check the top of the car: the officer's have lights on their car, the escort car doesn't.

Of course, some nights there are too many escorts for one car alone, but other nights Lore gets plenty of homework done.

``When the weather is bad, it gets really busy,'' he said. ``I could give about 20 people rides. But as the weather gets nicer, the number of escorts go down.''

Campus Safety has taken some flack for supposedly giving rides only to girls, but Lore just shrugged his shoulders.

``I figure the service is paid for by the students, so if a guy wants a ride, fine.'' Lore said. ``The only difference for me is that if I see a girl walking alone, I will probably ask if she wants a ride, but I probably won't if a guy is walking alone.''

Campus Safety officers are also trained in CPR and first aid, so they can respond quickly and effectively to medical emergencies.

``It's what really makes the difference between us and security guards,'' said Bantjes. ``If you have a medical emergency it is probably faster to call us than anyone else.''

While there are always patrols out, very few emergencies occur.

``Calvin is a pretty safe place,'' Zandstra said. ``We are in a decent part of the city, but we have to remember that people could still get on campus. There are always those isolated incidents. But if we didn't patrol, there would be more things happening. We keep an eye on things. We are more preventative care than anything else.''

Some people may wonder where that preventative care was when the Moses statue was stolen, or when all the doors were heisted from one of the buildings.

``If we see people doing things, we stop them,'' Zandstra said. ``Usually they just see us coming and then run away. But if we don't see them or know about it, there is little we can do. We did catch some people who were trying to sleep over at the dining halls and foiled their plans.''

And while the officers and supervisors are on campus to help, most of what they get is derision.

``I left my car to go into a building to check something out and when I came out someone had shoved all their parking tickets under my windshield wipers,'' Bantjes said. ``And as soon as it snows, people are throwing snowballs at us.''

``We get a bad name,'' Zandstra commented. ``Some of the situations we get blamed for, we had no control over. I think we could get viewed in a more positive light for what we do and not for what we don't do.''

Not even the escort drivers are free from the stigma.

``Sometimes people see me coming and walk really slowly on the path so that I have to drive behind them,'' Lore said. ``They shout at me, or tell me that I gave them tickets when I have no authority to do that. Some people kick the car or throw stuff at it.''

The attitude isn't the only problem behind this sort of action.

``What really gets to me is that tuition could go up because people are vandalizing college property,'' Lore said.

In essence, Campus Safety is working all the time, trying to keep the students of the campus as safe as possible, despite all the negative commentary from the campus itself.

``We do things for safety which people view as an inconvenience,'' Zandstra said.

``People think we are out to harass them, which is not the case at all. Some people may take their job too seriously, but I like to view us as a service the campus provides. We aren't out to catch people, we are here to help them.''