Oxford Needs a Different Kind of Policing

OPD officers on horses at the square interacting with people

Story contributed by Franziska Witte. She can be reached at fwitte@go.olemiss.edu.

If you’ve lived in Oxford for a while you probably know that the most common crimes involve property, such as thefts and burglaries. But it is a college town and that means police officers deal with more than their fair share of young people and the crimes that most often involve them — namely alcohol and drug-related offenses.

The Oxford Police Department (OPD) pursues a strategy of community policing. It aims to promote positive interactions with the college-aged community. Officer Hildon Sessums from OPD says “we do a lot of outreach to our college community,” and “we want peoples’ first interaction to be a positive one.”

Eamon Melican from Australia attends Ole Miss and his first interaction with OPD was during a community event for exchange students. Melican has also seen officers on the Square. “Watching them play cornhole with everyone on the street made them seem pretty friendly,” Melican says.

At one point, a police officer offered Melican a ride home after a night on the town. “I think the officer handled the situation well because I was just drunk and ready to go home,” Melican says.

Back home he thought he had lost his phone and tracked it. It turned out to be in the police car and was returned by the same officer that night.

Interaction between police and college students

Working in an environment with a large student population changes policing. “To be a police officer in Oxford, especially in a college town, you have to have patience, you have to be understanding,” Sessums says.

He believes explaining the officer’s reasons in any encounter with college students is always the most important step in breaking down the barriers. He says “we live in a ‘why’-generation.”

“Today, when you tell folks to do something, they want to know why. So, we have to teach our officers that you not only need to tell them to do something, but you have to explain why.”

Through the university, Oxford also brings together many people from different states and countries, with different cultures and customs.

Sessums says this has an impact on police work as well. “I think we police differently in Oxford because we have such a diverse community.”

For example, when he’s working traffic enforcement, Officer Alex Moffett uses discretion in handling instances involving a person who is not from the area. He says explaining traffic laws is more helpful than writing a ticket. It offers “a teaching opportunity as opposed to an enforcement,” Moffett says.

Officer Sessums believes the diversity in the Oxford community ultimately is a benefit for the police. “I think it makes an Oxford police officer a more well-rounded officer.”

Most common offenses and busiest times

The yearly OPD report from last year counts 1,146 alcohol-related arrest offenses in 2018. The arrests in the age group 18-22 numbered 364.

Narcotics arrests totaled 528 in 2018 with 239 of those arrested between 18-22-years-old. Both numbers for narcotics and alcohol-related arrest offenses were highest for age 20.

Ole Miss sports also have a strong impact on the police work in Oxford. The chances for police interactions on football weekends are much higher with a lot more people in town.

Sessums says “we have been averaging 30 reports on a non-football weekend night and 60 to 70 reports on a football weekend-night.”

The busiest times of the year for OPD are football season, late baseball season and the weekends, in general.

Safe Site Tent

Two years ago, OPD started putting up a Safe Site Tent on the Square. It’s set up every Thursday, Friday and Saturday in front of the Visitors Center.

They say the idea is to provide a welcoming place that students can come to with any problems or just to talk to the officers. There is a cornhole game set up on the side of the street for those up for a match with the officers.

Sessums believes the tent is a tool for connecting with the college-aged community. “It’s an icebreaker and it creates a conversation,” he says.

The tent location is also central to the areas where OPD faces the majority of problems on weekend nights.

Moffett says “we’re not sitting here just waiting for something to happen. We’re sitting here to make sure everybody’s safe. The cornhole is here, we want to encourage people to interact with us.”

People are encouraged to come by “if they feel like they had too much to drink, if they need somewhere to come, if they need to charge their cellphone, if they need help getting a taxi, or if somebody is making them feel uncomfortable,” Moffett says.

Melican says the tent does help him feel safe rather than watched by the police. However, he is concerned that drunk people who are underage could avoid the tent out of fear. He himself isn’t sure he’d take advantage of what police are offering. “I’d be more likely to call one of my friends to come and get me,” Melican says.

Officer Moffett says there is a misconception that anyone who is drunk will be arrested. He is aware that a lot of people on the Square are intoxicated, but he says to be arrested, a person has to do something illegal or be too intoxicated to get home safely.

“If you can’t tell me where you live, what your name is and you don’t have anybody with you that can take you home or watch over you, I feel like my hands are tied and the safest option for you is to go to the hospital or to jail,” Moffett says.

OPD officer Alex Moffett, Sergeant over the downtown unit and the K9 unit, on the Safe Site Tent, the use of police horses and community policing on the Square.

Police interaction with the community on social media

One of the most popular community engagement tools for OPD are the department’s social media accounts on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. They use them to share crime news, witness searches, community events and news regarding OPD and its staff.

Sessums says their social media accounts have been especially useful to connect with younger members of the Oxford community.

“if you reach out to us on social media, we are going to reach back out to you. So, it is not going to be a one-way conversation,” says Sessums.

He regards it as an essential part of today’s policing. “If you’re not on social media, you’re ten years behind in policing.”

Of course, not everyone is happy after an encounter with OPD. We made several attempts to find people who had negative experiences, but no-one wanted to be interviewed.

Officer Moffett thinks, however, “overall Oxford, Ole Miss and OPD have a really good relationship.”