When it comes to picking careers, many Sacramento State students have a difficult time narrowing down their options. In the Criminal Justice Department, organizations like the Community Service Officer Program help students make decisions about where they want to take their careers.

Designed to be an extension of University Police, the CSO program was created to help support the department’s mission to protect life and property and ensure academic tranquility in partnership with the campus community.

In addition to this support, CSOs perform a variety of duties from speaking to new students about crime prevention to helping students find their cars. CSOs also patrol the campus on a daily basis searching for security violations and safety hazards.

By patrolling the campus, CSOs create a sense of visibility and help ensure public safety by serving as the “eyes and ears” of University Police. It wasn’t always this way.

When the program began in 2003, there were only five to 10 CSOs a year. Now, Sac State has an average of 29 CSOs patrolling the campus.

CSO Coordinator William Sholtz said University Police expanded the number of on-duty CSOs in hopes that the increase would deter on-campus crime. Since the expansion, the amount of crime in campus parking lots has decreased.

“We’ve been very successful with reducing crime in the parking lot,” Sholtz said.

Sholtz said the program’s expansion has been a 40 percent reduction in the amount of crimes that happen in the parking lots. Sholtz attributes this reduction in part to the high visibility of the CSOs.

There are three things that every CSO is responsible for: preventing, observing and reporting. By following these three rules, they are helping the campus environment, something that criminal justice major Matthew Pregill enjoys doing as a CSO.

“Our main objective is to be highly visible and reduce crime,” said Pregill, who has been involved with the program for 3 1/2 years and hopes to pursue a career in law enforcement.

For every shift he works, Pregill is called upon to assess situations and determine whether or not a campus police officer should be dispatched to handle a situation. Shifts vary from daytime to graveyard and offer Pregill a real-life experience on a day-to-day basis where no two days are ever the same.

“It all depends on the day; every day is a different day,” said Pregill, who has been involved in foot pursuits for burglary and has dealt with people who streak, skinny dip and those who “try to get to know each other better.”

One of the biggest advantages of being involved in the CSO program is the amount of opportunities that the program offers students once they graduate. Pregill said many students go on to become police officers and probation officers, among other positions.

In addition to the experience CSOs gain from the program, one of the things that Pregill enjoys most is the interaction with students who often approach him while he is on duty.

“A lot of students will come up to me and say thank you for being out here, thank you for helping,” something Pregill said makes him feel good about what he does and the career he hopes to pursue.

Isela Reyes can be reached at [email protected].