Despite the loss of federal grants, The University of Memphis police department continues to operate at full strength.
"We have been fortunate that our University made a commitment several years ago (that) we would not cut public safety," said Bruce Harber, director of public safety. "We been acting on 100 percent of our budget."
Since Sept. 11, 2002, the federal government has shifted nearly all previous funding to The University of Memphis police department to federal and state grants. Cuts to The University of Memphis police department have yet to affect safety, Harber said.
After Sept. 11, 2005, the federal government shifted nearly all funding from The U of M police department to homeland security agency.
Since the loss of federal money, The U of M has been given much of the burden of funding public safety.
"Because we are state-funded, subsidy money is sent to the state and the state keeps 20 percent," Harber said. "After that, we can apply for grants, but we haven't received any yet."
In order for The U of M police department to receive further funding, the state must see a public safety need.
The state did award The U of M close to $1.5 million in grants for a DUI tracking system and a crash analysis study, but the police department has yet to see any extra money.
"The funding The University has received deals with studies The University does for different police agencies," said Derek Myers, the deputy public safety director. "We haven't received any grants."
While the loss of federal aid is a concern for the police department, the rising price of gas has been the main budget issue.
"Two years ago it cost roughly $2,000 in gas for patrols," Harber said. "This year it is up around 50 percent to $3,000."
Harber said the police department is working on many different programs to cut back on fuel consumption.
"We are concerned, and we are looking at creating ways to get around high fuel costs like implementing a bike control," Harber said.
Police officers have also been working to cut down on the amount of time they spend in their squad cars by spending more time on foot.
"We implemented a walking patrol the last two weeks," Harber said. "It might not seem like much, but when an officer walks an hour or two a shift, it really adds up."
Despite working around rising gas costs, The U of M safety record is better than ever.
Overall incident reports for The University are down 12 percent from last year, although vehicle burglaries are up.
"The only thing we are up in is vehicle crimes. We are focused right now on that and addressing those issues," Harber said. "We are just now starting to put forward on putting a commitment into some security cameras in the parking lots."
Putting surveillance cameras around parking areas on campus has been a long time need, said sophomore business major Jake Sanders.
"It would be nice to maybe be able to catch some of these people who keep breaking into our cars," Sanders said. "If they knew a camera was watching them, maybe they would go somewhere else to steal."
Theft prevention is one of the main reasons for installing cameras around parking areas, Harber said.
"The cameras serve two purposes," Harber said. "We get to catch a few people, which serves as a deterrent, and having cameras with the signs posted stating that the vehicles are being watched deters crime as well."
