Get to Know the BSU Police Department
What do you know about BSU’s Police Department?
For many students, the answer is likely not much. Most students won’t ever come into contact with the Police Department. BSU is home to its own police department, separate from the Town of Bridgewater. That’s important to Michael Froio, Assistant Chief of Police at BSU who stated, “if we relied on Bridgewater they would have to cover the over 10,000 students that come here plus their own town’s population”.
The BSU PD has 23 full time officers and four dispatchers, with at least one dispatcher working at any given time. To Froio, that’s a necessity for the school since “we get roughly 10,000 calls made to us yearly.” While most of the calls made are related to more minor things like the fire alarm, they do respond to serious calls ranging from drug possession to violence on campus. The Police Department is open all hours of the day so that they can respond whenever they need to.
Many colleges of similar sizes don’t have their own Police Department. They either entirely rely on their town or city, or they hire private security to keep the college safe. Froio believes that this is the largest misconception that students have.
“We have the same requirements [to work here] as any other Police Department,” said Froio. He further went on to explain that BSU officers are real police officers. They can arrest people like real cops and are not just security. This is appreciated by some students. Freshman Brendan Ashworth said, “ultimately, I think they’re the reason we can feel safe around campus.”
If you are ever having an issue on campus and feel you need to tell the police, you can call them to you using the blue light phones around campus. Alternatively, you could meet in person at the department that’s near the Shea/Durgin residence hall, or call them at 508-531-1212.
