People often wonder what it is like to be a police officer – especially one who has to work the overnight shift. For Kevin Gray, police officer with the Ohio State University Police, imagination becomes reality.
Gray – whose “claim to fame” is arresting OSU quarterback Steve Bellesari on Nov. 16 for a DUI – takes this editor along on a Friday night to show what it is like to be a University Police officer working the graveyard shift.
Midnight: University Police Station – Michael Blankenship Hall at 901 Woody Hayes Drive.
Gray, originally from Barnesville, Ohio, is no rookie to law enforcement.
He has been an officer for 15 years, and with University Police for the past 3 1/2 years.
“I had an interest right out of high school. I thought law enforcement would be a neat profession to try to get into,” Gray said.
He got his bachelor’s in criminal justice from OSU in 1984.
Gray explains that a typical weekend night is busier than any other night.
“There is a lot more student activity. A lot more students are out, and a lot more people come up to party as well,” he said. “Mostly what we deal with on Friday and Saturday nights are alcohol-related calls, but usually in the winter it’s not that busy.”
Fortunately, he was right about that on this particular Friday night.
12:14 a.m.: Waterman Farms near West Campus
This is an agricultural area of campus, with an orchard, barns and cattle. Most interestingly, a honeybee lab is located here where honeybee research is done.
“This is a really secluded, not well-lit area, and occasionally we’ll have cars up here. People are up here partying or smoking dope,” Gray said. “We check this area a couple of times a night as well.”
No trespassing signs are now posted in this area.
“It hasn’t been posted very long, so actually if people come up here now they can get arrested for trespassing – whereas before it was considered a public-open area,” Gray said.
12:33 a.m.: First call: Dispatched to Denney Hall on 164 West 17th Ave.
Officer Gray gets dispatched to Denney Hall for a person with an injured ankle in Room 18. Gray meets the medic there.
Upon arrival, we learn it is a member of the clerical staff who has suffered the injury. Medics and Gray offer to transport him to the hospital but he refuses.
“We used to have medics that worked on campus, but now we don’t. So any medical run they’ll always dispatch the police on as well as fire runs,” Gray said.
1:02 a.m.: “Wetlands”
“A lot of vagrants go back in there – not so much in the cold weather but in the warmer weather – so we always go back there to make sure nobody’s there,” Gray said.
He said last year, police found a person living out of a Dumpster near the wetlands. However, Gray said it is more likely to find vagrants trying to live in some of the buildings on campus.
“We have the biggest problem with Baker Systems because it’s open 24 hours,” he said.
Gray added that one time during the summer months, he got a call about two workers fighting on top of a radio tower in the middle of the wetlands.
“Me and the officer I was with just basically stood down at the bottom and waited for them to calm down and they did,” he said. “We weren’t about to climb up the tower – it’s super-high.”
1:34 a.m.: Converse Hall at 2121 Tuttle Park Place
Converse Hall houses a shooting range for ROTC and for the University Police department.
“That’s where we qualify at,” Gray said. “There’s a specific area in the basement for us to do all of our qualifications.”
1:35 a.m.: In pursuit of car on Carmack Drive
A blonde woman in a teal Honda CRV went straight in a left-turn-only lane. Gray pulls her over on Carmack.
Gray said he has to make sure she wasn’t drinking and has to run her license to see what kind of driving record she has.
Everything turns up clear.
“She’s been cooperative and she just didn’t know where she was going so I’ll just go ahead and give her a verbal warning,” Gray said. “In doing a stop, the person’s attitude goes a long way.”
1:44 a.m.: Science Village on Kinnear
Gray explains that another big problem at night on campus are thefts at construction sites. University Police officers have to check those sites quite a bit.
“This past summer we had a guy try to steal a generator, and we caught him in the act,” Gray said.
1:57 a.m.: Ride through Oval
Gray gets a wave from a plain-clothes officer in an unmarked car out on patrol.
At night there is usually at least one undercover officer out on patrol. The car has government plates, but it is difficult to conclude that an undercover officer is patrolling the area.
2:00 a.m.: Garage on High Street
With all the people attending concerts at the Newport Music Hall across the street, officers must patrol this garage because many of those concert-goers park here.
“About 75 to 80 percent of the time you get an arrest or two out of that garage that is alcohol- or drug-related,” Gray said.
2:30 a.m.: Back at Blankenship Hall
Gray said campus is a pretty safe place to be and proved it on this ride-along.
“People still have to use their heads, but overall it’s pretty safe,” he said.
