At Illinois State University (ISU), a public research institution of higher learning located in Normal, Illinois, several of the most popular courses are not only free but also available to faculty, administration, and other employees. They are taught by officers of the Illinois State University Police Department (ISUPD) to help members of the ISU community enhance their personal safety. And as seen in the photo of Officers Jessika Jones and Kim Ridlen teaching self-defense tactics during a Redbird AWARE class (named for Redbird, the former ISU mascot), two of these classes provide hands-on defensive skills training. Redbird AWARE—which stands for Alert, Wise, Attentive, Ready, Empowered—teaches prevention techniques as well as basic self-defense options. The other hands-on course is R.A.D: Rape Aggression Defense, a 12-hour, physical self-defense training program, which helps women and girls realize their potential for self-protection. Taught by certified R.A.D. instructors, it focuses on risk reduction, physical defense, and dynamic simulation.

But these are just two of 14 courses offered free of charge to all members of the ISU community by the University Police Department as part of their Community Policing program. In addition to three other safety and crime prevention courses, the department also offers presentations on topics such as Cyber and Electronic Safety, Drug Abuse, and Emotional and Social Intelligence.

The need for personal safety training may surprise those who live and work in Normal, a central Illinois town named after Illinois State Normal College, the teacher training school that became Illinois State University in 1967. According to Best Places, this town of 50,000 residents has a relatively low crime rate.

Providing the knowledge and skills to feel and be safe anywhere

Asked why his department started offering such programs, ISUPD Chief Aaron Woodruff said that crime can happen anywhere, adding “A college campus is not a magic bubble. We want to provide the school community with the knowledge and tools they need to be partners in campus safety. And to be safe when they leave school as well.

“We are empowering students,” he said, adding that feeling safe, a perception enhanced by these courses, is just as important as being safe. “So when students started asking about self-defense programs, we looked into providing them. Our Redbird Personal Safety video, for instance, is based on questions that came from students.”

According to Chief Woodruff, these programs are very popular. “We get a lot of requests from individuals and groups such as sororities, sports teams, and faculty groups. We also do presentations for students at University High School, which is the University’s College of Education lab school for teacher-training. Community groups from the town of Normal sometimes take them too.”

The University Police Department, which has 30 sworn officers, an administrative staff, a dispatch center, an investigative unit, and other law enforcement divisions, polices ISU’s 1180-acre campus, serving more than 20,000 students, as well as faculty members and other school employees. Chief Woodruff points out that though his department is similar to a municipal law enforcement agency in its capabilities and in the size of the community it serves, which is equivalent to a small city, ISUPD faces a challenge unique to university law enforcement. “About 25 percent of our community turns over at the end of every year, when students graduate and new ones arrive. Which requires us to establish relationships and educate a lot of new people on an annual basis,” he said.

Building relationships with a “pawfficer,” foot patrols, and a Taylor Swift party

The ISUPD builds these relationships through its Community Engagement Unit (CEU), which includes three officers and one “pawfficer”—Sage, their outreach K9. Officers assigned to this unit are given special training in working with young people as well as a special mission: to reach out and engage with all members of the ISU community. They do this on a daily basis through vehicle, bike, and foot patrols. Officers stroll through residence halls as well as other buildings, sometimes stopping to chat or even joining in a video game in a student’s room.

Chief Woodruff adds that the CEU’s biggest asset is Sage, whose main job is to be a comfort to students on campus and the broader community. Often, her presence helps strengthen the relationship between the students and officers, opening the door for meaningful, authentic conversations.

Sage and the CEU team are frequently seen at campus events as well. They also collaborate with campus organizations to educate students or build community relations.

One example is one of ISUPD’s videos on TikTok. Featuring Sage and an officer lip-syncing to a Taylor Swift song, the video garnered more than 1.4 million views and hundreds of comments. It also prompted the ISUPD to partner with Student Government to throw a “Taylor Swift Pawty” with Sage, creating even more opportunities for positive engagement between officers and students.

In addition, the CEU co-hosts “What’s Up Wednesday,” an event that features discussion about a different safety topic every month. To emphasize the month’s message, they partner with different organizations across campus, often handing out goodies such as stickers or Valentine’s Day cards.

Serving all community needs in partnership with all community organizations

When responding to crime or other serious incidents, the ISUPD often works collaboratively. Said Chief Woodruff, “We can’t do this alone. We work with our entire community, sometimes including regional law enforcement agencies with whom we have interoperability through radio communications. There’s no magic boundary when it comes to a college campus, so there may be overlap in response.”

The ISUPD also works with internal stakeholders such as University Housing and Student Health Services. One such effort is the collaboration with the University’s Center for Human Services in the Co-Responder Unit, which pairs an officer with a social worker to respond to calls involving individuals in mental health crisis.

Commenting on his department’s collaborative approach to policing and its level of engagement with members of the ISU community, Chief Woodruff said, “Community policing is what we do, who we are. Our mission is to serve our campus community in every capacity we can. I frequently ask officers what our mission statement is, because we want them thinking about what our purpose is, to remember our values and ask themselves if they are living up to them every day.” Last year, the Accreditation Director of the Illinois Law Enforcement Accreditation Program (ILEAP), a program that evaluates agencies’ policies and procedures against established criteria, acknowledged this. According to Woodruff, the Accreditation Director said that he hadn’t seen any agency that truly epitomized community policing to the extent the ISUPD did.

Faye C. Elkins
Sr. Technical Writer
COPS Office

Image Courtesy of Illinois State University Police Department.

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