Students may spot a smiling new face from the Eugene Police Department on campus.
Sgt. Mark Montes took the reigns of the EPD campus security team — which serves as the liaison between EPD and the Department of Public Safety — at the end of March.
The 20-year law enforcement veteran has spent half of his career working in Los Angeles and the other half working for the Springfield Police Department and EPD. Currently, he supervises a team of three EPD officers in the DPS office.
DPS Interim Director Thomas Hicks said that Montes’ transition to leading the campus EPD team is going well.
“We’re really happy with Sgt. Montes,” Hicks said. “He continues the cooperative arrangement between EPD and DPS. We appreciate (his) experience and look forward to being able to take advantage of it. I would expect to see a continuing improvement in the working relationship (between DPS and EPD).”
After 10 years of working in L.A., Montes said he decided to move somewhere safer to raise his children. He said the L.A. lifestyle was too fast-paced and hectic.
He was hired by SPD and worked there for six years, but he was eventually transferred to EPD because there were more opportunities for promotion. After working for EPD for three months in 2000, he was promoted to sergeant.
Montes said his current position primarily involves supervising patrol teams.
He also serves on a variety of committees, including a diversity committee, a racial profiling committee and a crowd-control team.
“(The committees) don’t take a lot from my regular job,” Montes said. “But it can be busy, especially when the weather gets nice.”
Once Montes was transferred to the University, he was given the task of supervising three EPD officers.
“It’s not different than supervising any other patrol team,” he said, adding that a majority of the calls he gets are disturbances, loud music or patrolling the campus.
He also makes himself available to DPS to answer legal questions and make sure that services aren’t duplicated between the EPD and DPS officers, because some DPS officers can now issue citations.
“(EPD officers are) here to provide education and crime prevention,” Montes said. “They’re basically doing community policing, just in a smaller geographical area (of Eugene.)”
Besides working with DPS, Montes works with a few campus organizations, primarily the Office of Student Life.
Student Judicial Affairs Director Chris Loschiavo said he and others in his office frequently work with EPD on various crisis situations on campus.
He said he gets the feeling that Montes enjoys working with students and sees the value in an educational process. He added Montes seems to be open to some alternative forms of dealing with situations on campus.
However, Loschiavo said it is too early to determine how Montes holds up against other EPD sergeants
assigned to campus.
“All of our sergeants have brought their own personalities to campus, but it’s too early to tell what, if any, changes he’ll bring,” Loschiavo said.
Hicks agreed that it is too early to know if changes will be made, but he said the contract to have EPD officers in the DPS office ends in June, so the contract renewal may cause changes.
Loschiavo said he hopes students will accept Montes and understand the need for EPD’s presence at the University.
“It’s important that students realize EPD has a job to do on campus. Sometimes they have to cite students, but remember, they are here for students’ safety,” Loschiavo said. “A lot of people come onto campus and try to take advantage of students, and EPD is here to prevent that.”
Montes hopes to bridge the gap between EPD and the campus, in part by educating the students so they have an understanding of when they’re breaking the rules.
“I see it as a challenge to get
everybody on the same page,” he said. “It has to be a constant process of education and communication.”
Montes said his specific role in supervising the three EPD officers is to provide them with the help and resources they need.
He said he facilitates the officers’ training, reviews their reports and goes on calls when he is available.
He added that one aspect of working the campus detail he enjoys is that the calls for service aren’t as high, so he and his officers have more time to be in contact with people around the campus.
EPD officers on campus sometimes teach classes on bike safety, pedestrian safety and other classes as needed.
Overall, Montes hopes to continue building the relationship among EPD, DPS and the campus community.
“My door is always open for people,” he said.