The ASU police aide program offers students the opportunity to benefit from a full-time job and tuition waivers while obtaining law enforcement experience.
The program, established in 2000, is designed to free up time for ASU police officers so they can optimally address law enforcement and campus safety issues that could otherwise go unnoticed, Assistant Chief Jim Hardina said.
Hardina said student police aides are the “eyes and ears” of the department and perform duties that do not demand an armed officer.
These duties include ensuring campus doors and buildings are locked after hours, patrolling all four campuses and monitoring certain buildings, such as the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the Downtown campus, Hayden Library on the Tempe campus and several residence halls.
Graduate student Benjamin Flynn, who was hired as a police aide in 2008, joined the program for the tuition assistance and insurance benefits.
Flynn, who will begin earning his doctorate degree in behavioral health in spring 2013, said it’s a good program for any student, especially those pursuing an advanced degree.
Flynn will complete his education with no debt.
Police aides also contribute to the increasing arrests of bike thieves.
So far this semester, police have arrested four people for attempting to steal bikes because the police aides noticed them and called in officers.
“We are a lot more proactive since first starting out,” Flynn said.
Any student can apply to work as a police aide, even if they do not plan to be a police officer.
Hardina said many police aides go on to become officers after they graduate.
“It is a perfect full-time job for students,” Hardina said. “(It’s) very much like a paid internship that gives a student a taste of what it’s like being an officer.”
Hardina said police aides work in tandem with officers at crime scenes to collect and analyze evidence.
There are about 40 aides across all four campuses and the ASU Police Department is still adding aides on the West, Polytechnic and Downtown campuses.
Communications senior Andrew Cofield, a first-generation college student, said he would have joined the program had he known it existed.
“It is a doorway for students to be able to attend school without worrying about major debt,” Cofield said.
Reach the reporter at mkthomp5@asu.edu
