By Caleb Amick | Contributor
Freshman Riley Legge needed a lift after she fainted during a vaccination at the Health Center.
Although she said she was okay, health center staff asked that she wait for Police Chief Jeff Wallace to arrive. Wallace then picked up Legge and drove her back to Olson. According to Wallace, a good percentage of these rides have been to and from the health center.
Those like Legge are not the only ones who have received a leg up from police. Students who are injured, or who simply want a free ride have been able to participate.
There are quite a few ways a student can get a ride, the most effective one is to call campus police directly.
While walking back to her residence hall, freshman Mary Cuthrell had been offered a ride by a policeman as he drove by. Though surprised by the offer, Cuthrell accepted. Cuthrell and Legge are just two of the hundreds of people who the police have given rides to.
According to Cuthrell, this interaction changed her view of the police positively.
"I've always thought of police as being there to do their jobs and nothing more, I didn't think that they wanted to interact with students," Cuthrell said.
Wallace, however, believes interacting with students and being intentional with them is essential, if not necessary, for quality law enforcement to be carried out.
Wallace and the other officers love giving rides and being intentional with students.
This intentionality, he said, is what sets Taylor apart. To campus police, their job is not just a job, but a ministry; a ministry of safety to the campus.
Everyone knows that ministry consists of building and fostering relationships. Fostering relationships, Wallace said, is the job of police regardless of location.
Although Taylor's environment tends to make it easier to do so, he said that in order to be effective enforcers, police must be ministers and not merely enforcers of the law.
