After a long day of classes, you walk through the Student Center and smell warm bread. Subway sounds good for lunch. You get in the line of chatty classmates. Looking for your wallet in your backpack full of books, you can’t find it anywhere. You begin to message teachers you had that day, hoping that they can find your wallet in the classroom. Before you can send an email, you see one from the Rock Valley College Police Department. They have your wallet!
A similar situation happened to Savanna Sperling, a student here at RVC. She was grateful RVCPD found her wallet before someone else did.
That’s not the only time RVCPD has helped Savanna out of a sticky situation.
“I got a DUI in February…so I chose to get the breathalyzer in my car. But it likes to randomly not work… so I called them one day thinking I would have to leave my car there overnight. They arrived like two minutes later and I said, ‘Watch. This will be the time it works,’ and it did. When the officer’s partner showed up, he jokingly was like, ‘I blew into it for her so it worked.’ They were super nice and funny in a moment when I was really embarrassed.”
Finding wallets and resolving car troubles are just two of the many services RVCPD offers to students on campus. The RVC website lists other ways officers can help students. These services include Police Patrol, Criminal and Traffic Law Enforcement, Criminal and Non-Criminal investigations, Special Event Security, Fire and Safety Inspections, Personal Safety Presentations, and the Safe Walk Program.
If an active shooter ever threatens the RVC campus, our officers are the first on-site. There is a video uploaded on the department’s webpage overviewing the protocols and procedures RVCPD would take in the event of an active shooter on campus.
RVC always has an officer on campus in case of a call. While these calls are not always extreme, officers are always ready. Officer Marc Rubert goes into detail about how officers protect and serve everyone on campus. “Our patrol, we’re checking, making sure campus is safe- making sure no one is breaking into cars, speeding, traffic enforcements- see if anybody- students, need assistance. We do have the same arrest powers as city officers, so we enforce all the laws- all the criminal statutes.” Personal Safety Presentations are offered to students and faculty by the department.
These presentations can be requested by students or faculty members by reaching out to the RVC chief of police. Personal Safety Presentations can include CPR lessons, self-defense tactics, and first aid. Another service directly beneficial to students is the Safe Walk Program.
“Maybe it’s dark out. Maybe you’re in a bad domestic relationship or you just don’t feel comfortable walking to your car. So, you would call the non-emergency number for the police department. We’d meet you at a building or whatever, and we’ll walk you out to your car or vice versa. You got here, said, ‘Ok,’ we walk you back from your car to the building,” said Officer Rubert.
Justin Trimble, another RVC student, recalls an experience he’s had with the RVCPD.
“Well, I’ve had to deal with them twice. The first time I didn’t know I was going to be dealing with them. I locked my keys in my car, and I was complaining about it to my teacher because it was before class. He’s like, ‘Oh just go here.’ So, I went up to the Student Center and I was like, ‘Hey how do I get in contact with them (RVCPD)?’ and they told me about it, so I called. They came in about 5 minutes.” Justin told the RVCPD what parking lot he was in and what type of car he had. An Officer unlocked his car for him.
Students see officers patrolling parking lots, looking for people speeding, and ensuring the maintenance of standards RVC expects of its students. Officers do so much more we don’t see. “They are all so kind and helpful, even if it’s a silly little problem like mine was,” said Savanna.
(Photo by: Jasmine Duncan)
In case of an emergency call 911. For non-emergency issues on campus call 815-921- 4357. To file a complaint or report suspicious behavior on campus head to this site https://rockvalleycollege.edu/campus-services/campus-police/index. There is always an officer present at the Public Safety office located on campus.
