Once the school year starts up again, Fanshawe's special constables will, much like this years group of freshmen, be facing its first year on campus.

Fanshawe has become the first Ontario college to award their security officers ‘Special Constable' status. The 18-month pilot program falls in line with the authority that is given to officers at large universities across the province, and means that the officers now have an expanded job description that provides them with more options when it comes to dealing with most situations that arise on campus.

One of the biggest changes is that the new officers now carry Oleoresin Capsicum spray, more commonly known as pepper spray, and have been trained in coordination with London Police Services (LPS) on how to use it. This addition means that officers now carry the spray in tandem with their extendable-batons and handcuffs.

Ed Pimentel, Fanshawe's Manager of Campus Security Services, explained that the new authority isn't meant to be directed towards the students, but to be used as a form of personal defense for the officers.

“I don't want to put it across that this is an initiative against students,” Pimentel explained. “We are for the most part very accessible to the public. And there have been many times we've dealt with them and not students.”

Campus security now works in tandem with the LPS as well as UWO security, allowing the three institutions to share information between them.

“LPS provides the training,” Pimentel said. “So we have a working agreement of protocol with LPS board where it talks about what we can and cannot do. That provides us with oversight and we have to work within those parameters they've given us.

“What that means is that if there's an assault or something, we don't necessarily have to call the police anymore,” Pimentel continued. “They used to decide whom to charge. But now we're representatives of the college and we have the ability and discretion to deal with it our way.”

And that means that the officers can charge the students through either criminal or administrative channels, if not both.

“It was usually that security fell under a different department and never got the oversight it should have deserved,” Pimentel explains regarding the need for the trained officers. “But now what the college's has done is created their own department, their own entity within the college system, Campus security services. It's an upswing where we're just catching up to the universities when it comes to the service.”

“The Student Union supports having the new officers as long as they enforce all the rules,” said FSU President, Travis Mazereeuw, who had in the past been critical of the program. “Before we had some elderly security guards who could barely break out of a walk, and for us the security of the students is a priority.”

The pilot project runs from this September through December 2008, and is not without its checks. There will be an ongoing audit done by the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services that will be looking at whether there are complaints directed towards the new officers, as well as whether there authority has been used to their advantage and to ensure that they're following the ministry guidelines provided for them.

“There are going to be flyers posted around the school,” Mazereeuw explained about how the students are being given the heads up. “And the College will probably do something to warn the students about the change too. If a student stays out of trouble they won't have a problem with the new security.”

There are a total of six officers who have special constable status as well as 22 contract officers on staff with the college at the moment.

“We have more people out there, so more things are going to get recorded,” Pimentel continued. “So it's not that we're going to be coming down harder on people, we'll be more proactive, and if we're more proactive more incidents will be reported.

“Are we going to change the way we do things? No, we're going to be the same.”

What does "Special Constable" mean?

• There will be additional security officers on campus, which increases the amount of security and area covered.
• Special officers now carry pepper spray along with their extendable batons and handcuffs.
• They now have the ability to hold someone for an ‘investigative detention.'
• Greater authority to arrest both students and members of the public on-campus.
• Ability to share information with London Police Service and UWO police regarding suspects.
• Greater authority to search and seize on-campus.
• An “enhanced method of temporary detention, or investigative detention.”
• This is an 18-month pilot project that will be reviewed in December 2008.
• Six Fanshawe security staff members will have special constable status, with four on-campus at any one time in a best case scenario.