Hughes is Back 

 

Laura Jean Null

By SC Contributing Writer

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This upcoming February marks 30 years of service at East Stroudsburg University for Police Officer James Hughes, and he is once again the Acting Chief.

Assigned by President Welsh, Hughes is actively fulfilling his duties working for the university.

ESU’s police department is located at the bottom side of the Hemlock Suites, on Normal Street and has jurisdiction for all university buildings and on all ESU grounds.

College shootings are a serious and extreme issue that has become far too common. Hughes has made it his duty to prevent  these incidences from occurring. His goal is to ensure the safety of every individual on campus.

Hughes is working with the environmental health and safety unit to create crucial emergency plans. These plans would give detailed instructions to follow and explain how to proceed with caution in emergency situations.

Some of these instructions include having students not only being taught what to do verbally, but physically practicing and training in case of an active shooter, hurricane warnings and other occurrences that endanger the safety of students on campus.

Faculty, students and staff are trained to have an understanding of how to respond in emergencies and gain a greater chance of survival.

Hughes highly recommends everyone to sign up for the ESU emergency response text alerts. In case of any given crisis, texts messages will be sent out right away, notifying students with all the information that is known

To sign up for alerts, students can go on the ESU website and type “Emergency Text Messages in the search bar. A link will appear, and individuals can then register to receive FREE alerts. It’s easy, free, and could possibly save lives in a time of a disaster.

“ESU has the most incidents involving alcohol, both on and off campus,”  according to Hughes. The Chief reminds students to be careful and precautious around alcohol, and when of age, to be careful consuming it.

According to the ESU Police Annual Clery Crime and Fire Statistic Publication 2014, between 2010-2013, 543 on campus arrests were reported involving Liquor Laws.

For further information, updated records from ESU’s security report for 2015 have recently been mailed out to student and staff’s University email accounts.

Although negative incidents occur on campus, Hughes very much enjoys his job here.

“I like the fact that everyday differs ,” says Hughes.  He continues, “we are here to help guide students, not just make them safe.”