Ball State has its own full-service police force, University Police Department, and so does the City of Muncie—Muncie Police Department. Anyone who spends time off-campus might wonder about the differences between the two—Who answers when someone calls 9-11? Who might someone get a ticket from on the weekend? Here is a breakdown of the two police departments with jurisdiction around Ball State.
Jackson McGalliard /Wheeling Tillotson |
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Information from UPD Chief Duckham and MPD Chief Stewart
Who answers when I call 911?
All 911 calls in Delaware County go to Delaware County Emergency Communications, according to Delaware County dispatcher Adam Garrett. Dispatchers refer the call to UPD if it is on Ball State property. Oftentimes, technology on phones allows the dispatchers to see the caller’s location.
If a student lives off-campus and calls 911 for an emergency, it will probably get routed to MPD.
“Some of the calls MPD responds to are in close proximity to campus,” Garrett said. “They listen to us and we listen to them. If we have something in close proximity to campus MPD and UPD will lend a hand and send a few units to help. The two listen to each other.”
Students can use 765-285-1111 instead of 911 to reach UPD directly.
Who patrols off-campus neighborhoods?
UPD has regular car and foot patrols, and sometimes uses bike patrols, UPD Police Chief James Duckham said. UPD actively patrols its response area—campus and the surrounding streets.
MPD, however, only responds to calls for service, Police Chief Stewart said.
“We are a very busy department,” Stewart said. “We go from one call to the next.”
UPD, therefore, patrols campus and off-campus on the weekends and during the week. It is likely students cited on the weekends are ticketed by UPD, unless MPD responds to a call for service.
If MPD respond to a crime like a burglary that affects students, will it show up in Clery data?
Campus Security Reports are released in October every year to comply with the Jeanne Clery Campus Crime Act. These reports include statistics for on-campus and off-campus crimes like sex offenses, burglary and arson.
UPD pulls together this data for the reports every year along with the Office of Student Rights and Community Standards.
Stewart said once a year, UPD requests numbers for service calls for the Ball State jurisdiction from MPD, to include any crime that occurred in the neighborhoods directly off-campus.
Does either department have any services for students?
UPD offers services to the Ball State community like Charlie’s Charter and bike registration. They offer outreach programs like Rape Aggression Defense and Lunch-with-a-Cop.
UPD’s motor assist program offers free vehicle assistance to those on campus including battery jumps, car unlocks and inflating tires.
“Those are for things that happen on campus. If your mom was on campus and she needed a lockout, we would respond,” Duckham said. “Anything that happens on campus we respond to."
How do the departments work together?
Duckham described UPD’s area of influence as “concurrent patrol jurisdiction,” with MPD. That means that UPD’s area falls under MPD’s jurisdiction but UPD takes the lead in its area.
“[The jurisdiction] can vary if we call for mutual aid but we try to remain consistent with the neighborhoods around campus,” Duckham said.
The two departments will share information if needed for an investigation, but service calls or cases don’t normally get switched from one department to another, Stewart said.
Stewart said the two departments are basically the same because they are both full-service police stations.
“We work well together and we all will investigate crime until hell freezes over,” he said. “There is no difference, we’re all in it for the same reasons—to help people and keep everyone safe.”
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