Campus police: the first line of defense for college students

BECKLEY, WV (WVNS) — The first line of defense for any college or university is their campus police force.

Though students may sometimes forget, campus police officers are actual law enforcement personnel and hold a good amount of authority over what goes on across their campuses.

Jamel Corey, Chief of WVU Tech University Police, said they train just like regular police as well.

“[We train] through active shooter threat response training, verbal de-escalation, [and] just how to communicate with people, because one of the things on a campus that we had to get used to is we have young adults that come here from different cultures, different countries, or different cities who really may not have the same experience with law enforcement that I would like them to have. So, one of our things that we work on mostly is communications,” said Chief Corey to 59News.

Chief Corey said since WVU Tech is a smaller campus with a very low crime rate, he and his officers really get to know the students and staff.

He said one of the recent trainings they have completed is entry training, how to break into certain rooms safely, with the Beckley Fire Department.

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