Rebecca Marsh
Equinox Staff
Whether someone is intoxicated or under the influence of drugs, Campus Safety and the Keene Police Department know their stuff. It is their job to make both the town of Keene and Keene State College safe and sound for students and citizens, but what are their limits?
How far must someone go to attract the eye of an officer of the law? According to the Director of Campus Safety, Amanda Warman, “Our job is to make the campus safe for everyone.” The word, “everyone,” includes students, faculty, staff of KSC, the community of the town of Keene and anyone passing through. “Usually our geographic limits are the campus, but if we are out on Main Street or we see something or somebody calls us, we are obviously not just going to drive by,” Warman said. 
The Campus Safety officer would call the police to check out the situation, and would call the fire department if someone was in need of an ambulance, according to Warman. For students off campus, it all depends on the conduct office, under the Dean of Students, on whether or not a student is to be held responsible for certain situations, such as alcohol or drugs.
Officer Katie Corbett, the Keene State College liaison, said that if a Campus Safety officer finds something wrong on or off campus, he or she must call a Keene Police officer because a Campus Safety officer cannot make arrests. If a Campus Safety officer suspects that a person has a backpack full of alcohol, the officer would, “Just ask them to open it voluntarily and if [the suspected person] didn’t, [the officer] would call the police and the police will usually ask to open it voluntarily and if they don’t, they [the police] can confiscate it and get a search warrant for it,” Warman said.
According to Warman, if a person is off campus and clearly has a backpack full of alcohol, the Campus Safety officer will call the police to investigate.
Warman said that an officer needs to use discretion when dealing with situations such as this one. “The only thing they [people who are suspected under the influence] have to do is identify themselves.” Most other questions are answered voluntarily by the suspected person.
“Normally we would talk to you first,” Corbett said, if a police officer were to ever suspect there was alcohol in a backpack.
According to Corbett, if a person appears to be intoxicated, slurring words and not walking straight, an officer will come by to assess the situation. Corbett also said that if a student is not cooperating to open his or her backpack, the officer is able to get a search warrant which can take anywhere from under an hour to two hours to obtain.
Warman said that if someone smelled like marijuana or was suspected to be under the influence of drugs, “we would want to stop them and have them assessed medically, just kind of figure out what’s going on with them.”
According to Corbett, the Keene Police will talk to the suspected person to figure out if the situation needs assistance. “We are probably more likely to apply for a search warrant for drugs than alcohol, because it’s a more severe thing than two beers,” Corbett said. “We don’t stop people just to stop someone. If it is serious enough we will call Keene police,” Warman said.
The officers at Campus Safety listen to the police scanner to keep up to date with what is happening. According to Warman and Corbett, there have been some situations on campus and off campus in the city of Keene that have surprised them.
“My officers had to save a fish from a drain once,” Warman said. According to Warman, a few years ago officers found a family of bears living in a tree.
Corbett remembered seeing, “these people on bath salts.” Corbett said it is a different kind of experience seeing someone running naked through the streets of Keene.
“I just don’t understand how some people can put that stuff [bath salts] into their body,” Corbett said. The college is teaching Resident Assistants about bath salts, according to Corbett.
According to drugfree.org, bath salts can cause a person to go into extreme states of paranoia and harm themselves or others. The usage of bath salts can lead to serious injuries or death.
Overall, Warman said that between the two departments, there is a cooperating relationship.
“We [Campus Safety] have a really good relationship with them [Keene Police Department],” Warman said.
Meagan Whalen, a KSC sophomore, said that Campus Safety and the Keene Police Department handle situations the way they do because of protocol and to ensure the safety of all students. Whalen referred to the recent robbery when she said, “They [Campus Safety and KPD] were able to communicate about what was going on.” Freshman Rita Thagouras said that Campus Safety and KPD, “are very friendly and open, and at the same time we can’t just fool around and break things.”
Warman said that Campus Safety offers many programs to educate students about being safe on campus.
“The respect that we give is the respect we get back,” Corbett said about respecting the students, “Being in this position I think I’ve built some good relationships with the students.”
Warman said that the officers at Campus Safety make an effort to get to know the students.
“We take every opportunity to make a good relationship with students,” Warman said.
Rebecca Marsh can be contacted at
rmarsh@keene-equinox.com