While the summer months prove to be less crime-filled, with a drastic drop in the student population, Public Safety spends time focusing on the Police Academy and catching up.

Officers keep busy with a schedule involving police academy training, assisting the city police and doing building checks, Assistant Director of Police Services, Jeff Mincheff said.

“We do a lot of training with officers; we’re heavily involved in the police academy during the summer,” Mincheff said. “None of our responsibilities change.”

The Police Academy is 15 weeks long, and the officers instruct on their off-time, Sergeant Ken Love said.

The academy requires a lot out of recruits and involves intense training, Nicholas S. Diedrich, a graduate of the Police Academy, said.

Mornings would start with a run at 5 a.m. followed by inspections and class from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., on some days until 9 p.m., Diedrich said.

The classes involved heavy training, including learning to use firearms, CPR training, defensive tactics, learning to drive at high speeds, and volunteering as security at local events, he added.

“The training was pretty intensive, and I enjoyed it a lot,” Diedrich said, “It was good training and a good academy.”

Fifteen people graduated from the Police Academy this summer and are now capable of being certified to become police officers, Love said.

The summer months allow for more time to train and prepare for the upcoming year, Love said.

The officers also take part in various training activities involving mercury, asbestos, medical CPR training, firearms and hazardous material, he added.

Numerous events and people still residing in town require Public Safety’s assistance during the summer months, with basketball camps, summer camps, and permanent residents, including those in the on-campus apartments, Mincheff said.

“We do lots of building inspections, grants, and training; public safety is more than just the police department,” Mincheff said.

During the school year there are 7,000-9,000 students with over 3,000 people residing on campus, Mincheff said.

“Summer is a good time to train because we are a little bit slower,” Mincheff added.

“All of the apartments are full,” Mincheff said, “There are still people on campus all the time, faculty and staff, in essence we still have a community to worry about during the summer.”

Public Safety also assists the city police when events are going on in the city and other officers are on vacations. They participate as city backups, Mincheff said.

“It’s business as usual. We are still involved in complaints, still make arrests and [summer] gives us a chance to catch up on some investigations as well,” Mincheff said.

“It is expected because our population goes up 75 percent, the increase calls for services, with the increase of people,” Love said. “Obviously summer is time to re-group and re-train; you’ll see the city increase in their crime blotter as well. The whole town gets busier.”