On Dec. 16, Officers Sean Fullerton and Mark Haggerty of the Temple University Police Department personified the values listed in the Campus Safety Services mission statement-Prevention, Partnership, and Pride-when they rushed to a fire to help the residents of Norris Apartments at 10th and Norris streets. They were off-duty at the time.
The fire was caused by careless smoking at one of the top floors of the apartment building. Fullerton and Haggerty spotted the fire at 7:30 a.m.
Team efforts of Temple Police and Philadelphia Fire Department extinguished the flames by 7:55 a.m.
Fullerton and Haggerty, along with Officer Nathaniel Moore and Sgt. Thomas Eichler, helped evacuate 350 residents of the building. A few SEPTA buses waited for residents downstairs to provide warmth until the danger was eliminated.
The Temple Police Department is dedicated to keeping students safe, but these police officers showed that they were ready to help people in need in the surrounding areas as well.
The university’s jurisdiction is located within the borders of the 22nd Philadelphia Police District.
“The 22nd District is basically residential living community,” states the Philadelphia Police Department’s Web site. “Temple University is a key institution, and large contributor to the community through donations, employment and resources.”
According to the university’s Campus Safety Services Web site, Temple’s jurisdiction extends 500 yards beyond campus borders. Geographically, Temple Police are responsible for the areas between Ninth and 16th streets, and Oxford Street and Susquehanna Avenue.
Currently, the Temple police force comprises of 118 police officers and 70 security officers. All officers are “police professionals who receive state-mandated police recruitment training at an accredited police academy,” an online statement said.
Temple Police officers patrol the campus and the surrounding areas 24 hours a day. Bike and car patrols as well as officers on foot supervise on and off-campus activities to prevent crimes and help students and residents of the community in cases of emergency.
In the fall of 2003, the university installed 90 Code Blue Emergency Communication Systems throughout the campuses and surrounding areas. Sixty-six of the emergency stations are located at or near Main Campus.
Carl Bittenbender, Executive Director of Campus Safety Services, told The Temple News in October 2003 that the emergency stations are “geared towards all pedestrians, not just Temple students.”
Temple Investigations Capt. Robert Lowell said earlier in December that many more crimes such as theft and car break-ins take place on the edges of the campus. Also, with many students moving off-campus to the surrounding area of the university, police have to watch closely after activities that take place in those areas.
Natalya Bucuy can be reached at mordukh@temple.edu.
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