Students looking to fight crime on campus can trade in their superhero capes for police uniforms by becoming part of the ASU Police Department’s Police Aide program.
For more than 15 years, students and community members have had the opportunity to experience the duties that police officers perform on a daily basis.
The aides are non-sworn personnel within the police department, meaning they are unarmed and do not have the authority to arrest. They do help perform many duties on campus that don’t require a sworn officer.
These duties include providing security for residential halls, libraries and other campus buildings, escorting students around campus and implementing traffic control in the surrounding areas of campus, ASU Police spokesman Cmdr. Jim Hardina said.
There are currently 37 police aides employed at ASU, and they range from students to retirees.
TJ Amparan, a criminal justice graduate student who has been in the program for three years, said it has given him a good start into a career in law enforcement.
“[The Police Aides program] gives you a little taste of what officers do and it lets you see if it’s a career you want to do,” he said.
Occasionally, police aides do undercover operations, like dress in plain clothes in an attempt to catch bike thieves and underage drinkers.
Anyone can apply to become a police aide, but the application process is rigorous.
Applicants must successfully complete an extensive background, polygraph, psychological, medical and drug-screening test, just like any person going into law enforcement.
Acceptance into the program means members are employed by ASU and get the same benefits as ASU employees, such as a salary, health insurance and a tuition waiver.
Members can be either full-time or part-time to receive these benefits.
“There’s a combination of people in the program,” Hardina said. “Many ASU students use it as a stepping stone to become police officers, and others are retired police officers wanting to help out.”
The program is helpful for students looking to go into law enforcement because it teaches them the basic skills needed to become an officer, thus making it more likely police departments will hire them after graduation, said Cody Toledo, a criminal justice senior who’s been a part of the program for three years.
Toledo said he joined the Police Aide program because it was an interesting way of learning about the law enforcement field, something that he hopes to get into when he graduates.
Police aides don’t get to respond to serious situations because they don’t have the tools or training, but they can take part in investigation once the situation is controlled, Toledo said.
“It’s nice to not have a desk job,” he said. “I get to interact with people and get to see firsthand what police officers do.”
Reach the reporter at danielle.legler@asu.edu
