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University police Sgt. Roy Homer patrols the campus during the night shift.
University Police:
enforcing the rules
and keeping the peace
by Nancy Neukirchner
Staff writer
F or many students, the
only contact with the
University Police Depart
ment is waiting in seem
ingly never-ending lines
for parking stickers or re
ceiving those beige slips of paper,
instantly familiar, under the wind
shield wipers of their cars.
Needless to say, the image of
the men and women in blue
and black on campus is a far cry
from the neighborhood po
liceman who rescues a dis
traught child’s cat from a tall
tree. But, in reality, the campus
police force is comprised of
people who genuinely want to
help students.
In fact, many of them are stu
dents. Mike Ragan, assistant
chief of the University Police
Department, says that out of 28
patrol officers on the force, 10
are undergraduate and grad
uate students enrolled at A&M.
Another seven are A&M grad
uates, including Ragan.
Detective John Phillips, who
attended A&M as a member of
the Corps, says it helps to know
the Aggie lingo, which sounds
like a foreign language to peo
ple who have never been ex
posed to Aggie traditions.
“I know why Joe Blow is
over in the fish pond,” Phillips
says, “and I don’t get excited
when I see people carrying a
guy over by Rudder. ”
Cabrina Scott, who grad-