To Serve and Protect

The harsh snapping of latex gloves echoes down the hallway of McNutt Quad, causing the man slumped miserably on the floor to wince.\nA male IU student has signed a search warrant for his side of the dorm room. Part-time police officers and seniors Eric Mayo and Nick Ojeda are going to search for any contraband. \nMinutes tick by while the resident sweats and cranes his neck each time the officers add another trinket to the pile accumulating outside his door. \nAn empty Natural Ice can, an almost empty bottle of Smirnoff, a tiny book of rolling papers with porn actor Ron Jeremy on the front, two bottles of air freshener, a disarmed smoke detector and a homemade smoking device are added to the collection.\nNot 15 minutes before the search, part-time officers and seniors Mike Antonelli and Bob Murphy were eating their dinner and saying it was probably going to be an uneventful evening on patrol.\n"To be perfectly honest with you, not much really happens on the job. It's hit and miss," Antonelli said. \n"Yeah," Murphy chimed in, "we're really just here in case someone needs us."\nAntonelli, Murphy, Mayo and Ojeda are four of about 45 students participating in the cadet program offered by the IU Police Department. \nThe program allows full-time students to gain law enforcement experience and become a state-certified officer. It is the only program of its kind in the country.\nBecause of this, it's imperative that students maintain even higher standards than regular law enforcement requires, IUPD Lt. Greg Butler said. Everyone in the program must perform above par on academics, physical fitness and behavior.\nButler said the program is a great precursor for anyone going into law enforcement. He said IU students are the first to get jobs because of the education and experience obtain from the program. He said recent graduates are now employed by the CIA, FBI, Secret Service, Drug Enforcement Agency and the U.S. Marshals. \nBut not all graduates choose to leave. Officer Shannon Bunger went through the program and has stayed with IUPD for five years.\nIn retrospect, Bunger said, the hardest part about being a student part-time officer was missing out on the full experience of college life.\n"We worked events but couldn't actually participate," he said.\nFellow officer Mirantha Wilson said she has no regrets about going through the program. \n"If I hadn't gone through the program, I wouldn't be as confident as I am now," Wilson said.\nCurrent part-time officers agree that the most difficult part of their job is not a lack of social life, but balancing being a part-time officer with going to classes and maintaining good grades. \nThe social aspect of the job doesn't bother them because they are friends with the people they work with, officers said. \nTheir job isn't entirely enjoyable, though. They also have their own pet peeves.\nWilson said hers are "Drunkards and criminal justice students, because they both think they know everything." \nOne of Ojeda's biggest pet peeves is not the jokes people have about police officers, but the lack of creativity in these comments. \n"When people yell 'pig,' 'I smell bacon,' etc. ... It's not that it bothers me, but it's very unoriginal. Think of something funny. I would laugh if I heard something new," he said.\nLike full-time officers, the part-time student officers must deal with the stigma placed on police officers -- a stigma that comes primarily from their fellow students.\n"I try and avoid them," freshman Mike Holtz said of the police.\nAntonelli says what upsets him is that some students don't like the IUPD because their only experience of the department is the one time they got caught.\nThe IUPD has a few tips on what students should and should not do to make the best of a bad situation if they do get into trouble with the law.\n"The most surefire ways to go to jail on this campus are to lie and to run," Mayo said.\nAntonelli said the most important thing to keep in mind about the IUPD is that they're not out to bust you; they're out to keep you safe.\nFor more information about the IUPD part-time officer program for students go to www.indiana.edu/~iupd.