by Scott Wurtzel

Since COVID-19 started to spread outwards from China, there have been over 3 million confirmed cases around the world, according to the COVID-19 tracking website run by John Hopkins University. All schools right now have moved to online classes to help minimize the spread.College campuses are now pretty much empty, this affects the public safety officers who help protect students when on campus.

In an interview with Gary Moxley, the Director for public safety at RIT, he spoke about the current circumstances affecting campus.

“Our routine is now less calls for service” said Director Moxley when asked about how the normal routine has been affected. “We are not being asked to respond to as many on campus issues via dispatch. We are not into asset protection. Making sure our bldgs. are secure, checking for things like water leaks, fire hazards, and being highly visible on campus to deter anyone who may look to take advantage of our situation (less foot traffic).”

“Our staffing remains the same. We have only changed their assignments, there is still plenty of work to be done. This gives us the opportunity to check bldg. more often and walk the campus on foot.” Moxley replied when asked about any changes in personnel. With the same amount of staff, has there been any contact with any COVID-19 patients on campus?

“We have been in contact with those in isolation / quarantine on campus but we have the proper PPE and we are practicing safe distancing when necessary,” Moxley said. 

“My biggest challenge has been taking care of my officers,” he explained. “Unlike a lot of the campus they cannot work from home. They have the same issues at home as everyone else (day care etc.). So, it’s my job to assure them that I and the RIT Community supports them. When they feel this support, it allows them to put their problems behind and do their job to the best of their ability.” Moxley stated in response to what his biggest challenge right now is. This is something I did not consider when I first thought of doing this story.

It was unexpected that public safety would still be just as busy during the quarantine, now that there are a lot less people on campus, but it makes sense considering that they still have to make sure all the buildings on campus are secure and still working. It seems that even in quarantine, public safety has to still work normally.