Most students have seen Binghamton’s New York State University Police Department around campus in their black-and-white patrol cars, but don’t know what being a police officer on a university campus entails. Pipe Dream News did a ride-along between midnight and 4 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 20 to find out more about what a typical night shift looks like for UPD.

UPD is a fully empowered law enforcement agency, meaning they can write tickets and make arrests just like state troopers. They operate independently from other state and local police departments — their primary goal is to keep the campus community safe. As such, officers say that there are no quotas or expectations for them to write tickets.

During the night shift, which starts at 11 p.m. and ends at 7 a.m., officers divide the campus into several zones. Since there were three officers on patrol in three cars, campus was divided into three sectors. On this snowy Saturday night, UPD officer Christopher Meyn was assigned to Zone 1, which covered the dorms of east campus, including College-in-the-Woods, Newing College and Dickinson Community.

Around 1 a.m., Meyn did a walk-through of Onondaga Hall in College-in-the-Woods. Entering through a side door into a stairwell, the air was immediately filled with the smell of marijuana. But as he walked through the halls of the dorm, no bedrooms stuck out as particularly pungent, so Meyn continued walking through the hallways and common rooms, saying hello to those he passed on his way.

On the fourth floor of the dorm, a loud party was underway. After a quick sniff of the hallway outside that revealed the smell of marijuana to be coming from elsewhere, Meyn chose to move on.

“On these walk-throughs, we are just trying to make sure everyone is safe,” Meyn said. “We don’t try to ruin people’s nights.”

Across campus on West Drive, UPD officer Andrew Schneider was on traffic patrol. He pulled over a 25-year-old male for running a stop sign. The man claimed he did not see the sign and was let go with a warning since his license came back as clean.

“You never know,” Schneider said. “We could be driving and see someone collapse, or see someone trying to damage property. Especially with traffic stops, it’s never routine. You never know who you are pulling over or what is going on.”

Shortly after 2 a.m., Meyn spotted an intoxicated female being propped up by her friends as they walked toward Newing College. Being a nine-year veteran of the department, Meyn has responded to countless ambulance calls on weekend nights. The female student said she was at a fraternity party and drank too much punch. After a quick reprimand, a Harpur’s Ferry ambulance arrived within minutes to take her to the hospital.

Back on West Drive, Schneider said that the typical weekend night for an officer consists of primarily medical calls and traffic stops.

“It all depends on what is going on,” Schneider said. “If there are events, things can get busy, especially on the weekends.”

Primarily dealing with college students can pose unique challenges for officers. Schneider said that many of the calls he gets are for taxi cab disputes between students and drivers.

Around 3 a.m., as the police SUV rounded the traffic circle, Meyn spotted a student standing outside of a stopped taxi. The male student claimed that a cab driver had overcharged him for his fare, leading to an altercation in which the driver left the scene with the student’s debit card. The visibly intoxicated student was taken to the police station to make a statement.

“College students are young adults,” Schneider said. “They’re just gaining more responsibility and trying to figure stuff out. We try to treat them with respect, the same way we would treat a non-student.”

Despite the issues that may arise, UPD officers generally enjoy their jobs. All officers specifically took an exam to work at a New York university and are passionate about working with students and embracing community policing.

“I like what I do,” Schneider said. “I like this University, and the students here are pretty respectful.”