By Caroline Urbanek ‘17
Staff Writer
Merrimack College students learn during orientation that Police Services are always available and willing to help them. However, few students know how many services the station really offers which extends far beyond emergencies and lockouts.
In addition to being available for emergencies, room lockouts, and general security, the station is proud to offer other services to “help out any community member to the best of their ability with any issues brought to their attention,” DelGreco explained.
Freshman Thomas Middleton recently tore his ACL and meniscus while playing lacrosse, and has found that officers are more than willing to help with medical transports between their residence halls and academic buildings. The officers are “extremely helpful in providing rides and assistance to class and back to my dorm or training room whenever I need; they’re very polite about it as well,” he explained. He uses the non-emergency police line for help, and says that it’s a very easy system to use.
The station is proud to offer snow shovels for when students need assistance cleaning their vehicles during snowstorms, as well as portable jump starter packs for when students’ car batteries die. Student Kayla Regan wishes she had known this when she needed to jumpstart her car earlier this semester. “I had to wait for one of my friends to use her car until I could finally jumpstart mine and leave. If I had been facing the woods or another vehicle, knowing I could have rented a jump pack would have created peace of mind.” In order to borrow these things, students just need to come to the station and leave their IDs.
Merrimack officers also are available to help in the event that students or faculty are locked out of their vehicles. DelGreco expressed that officers “can assist in gaining entry into the door of a vehicle in which the keys have been locked.”
Additionally, the station generally tries to conduct one R.A.D. (Rape Aggression Defense) class per year in order to educate female students about personal defense and safety.
DelGreco is proud to say that all the Merrimack officers are willing to assist in any way they can. “This is the unique position that police officers on a college campus perform. They are police officers first, but also need to have in them the perspective of a parent, counselor, medical professional, and confidant.”
