Getting to know Officer A.J. Martin
We had 11 questions for Officer A.J. Martin in our ongoing series to get to know Division of Public Safety staff members: How long have you worked for the Division of Public Safety? Since January 2012 What's a typical day like for you? At work, I try to focus on specific behaviors that put other pedestrians and cars at risk like speeding, texting while driving, and disobeying stop signs. When I'm able to, I like to follow-up on reports I take like thefts, criminal damage, and mental health crises. At home, I spend as much time as I can with [...]
U. of I. named ‘StormReady’ campus
URBANA, Ill. – The National Weather Service on Wednesday awarded officials at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with its “StormReady” designation during an informal ceremony at the University Police Department. The university’s Office of Campus Emergency Management was notified of the certification in January. Wednesday’s ceremony coincided with Severe Weather Preparedness Week, which runs March 4-10 this year. The certification is in recognition of the extensive planning and preparation efforts to protect students, staff, faculty and visitors to the Illinois campus in the event of severe weather. A number of specific criteria must be met to achieve the certification [...]
Scam alert: Students advised not to pay strangers with Venmo
URBANA, Ill. – The University of Illinois Police Department is advising students not to use Venmo to help strangers transfer funds to other accounts. Police have received several reports from students who say they were approached by someone they did not know and were asked to accept a Venmo transfer. They were then directed to transfer the money via Venmo to a third account. After the students transfer the money to a third-party, the original transaction is canceled and the students never receive the funds they were promised. They are left paying hundreds or thousands of dollars to someone whom [...]
Students, police ‘Walk As One’ for campus safety
URBANA, Ill. – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign students, police from local agencies and other campus administrators on Wednesday knocked on thousands of doors in the university district to talk to students about their safety. The Walk As One event is an annual canvass of the campus area to reach out to students and introduce them to safety resources. In particular, walkers reminded students about the safe and responsible consumption of alcohol – as well as local laws and university policies regarding its use and misuse – as Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day approaches. The Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District provided buses [...]
Police focus on safely facilitating right to free expression
This story is adapted from UIPD’s 2017 Year in Review. URBANA, Ill. — As political demonstrations are becoming larger and more frequent on college campuses across the country, the University of Illinois Police Department’s approach to addressing those demonstrations has evolved. Lt. John Brown says UIPD has made changes over the past several years to the way it addresses what police now call “First Amendment gatherings.” The focus has shifted from controlling crowds to facilitating individuals’ right to express themselves in a safe manner. “The previous policy was based on attitudes from 20 years ago,” Brown said. “Those have changed.” But [...]