USU Police to focus on presence at night time campus events

Following three sexual assaults cases reported on USU’s Logan campus during the HOWL, an annual USU Halloween event, USU police have been focusing on maintaining their presence at night time events on campus, including the recent pregame campout in the USU Fieldhouse.

Captain Kent Harris of the USU Police said the police presence at the event was due to a proactive effort by USU Police to maintain campus safety.

“We weren’t asked to attend, but we were like, ‘We want to make sure that we have somebody walking through there,’” Harris said.  “We were proactive and had the graveyard officers wandering through there throughout the evening, making sure there were no problems.”

According to Braden Tomlinson, USU Student Association Vice President of athletics and campus recreation, preventing further sexual assaults or other safety issues from occurring at the campout was a major concern for students and university leadership.

“That was one of our biggest goals, especially following the HOWL and what had happened,” Tomlinson said. “That helps with a lot of the concerns people had, so we’re glad it worked out that way. I think the event went really, really well.”

However, Harris emphasized there is only so much officers can do to prevent sexual assaults, especially at events like the HOWL. Harris said while a force of over 40 officers from USU Police, the Logan City Police Department, the Cache County Sheriff’s Office and additional hired security were at the event, the sheer number of people made it impossible to catch everything.

“You’ve got 4,000 people crammed into one little area … When the officers do walk through there, they’re just trying to get through,” Harris said. “Trying to see things like [sexual assaults] would be pretty darn difficult.”

Still, Harris said USU police were able to successfully identify and prevent a number of safety concerns from occurring while at the event and removed several intoxicated individuals before they “made it too far into the student section.”

USU has been involved in several high-profile sexual assault cases in recent years and is currently involved in a lawsuit filed by three women raped by former USU football player, Torey Green. A 2019 report on sexual misconduct at USU also indicated that 10 percent of participating students had experienced nonconsensual sexual contact while  at USU.

According to Harris, USU Police hasn’t changed their response to sexual assault in recent years. “We respond just like we always have,” Harris said. “We meet with the victim, we [learn] what occurred and we investigate the allegation from there.” 

Harris emphasized that the USU Police Department works closely with USU’s Office of Equitand Sexual Assault and Anti-Violence Information (SAAVI) office , and teaches a Rape Aggression Defense class each semester. According to Harris, executive director of Public Safety Earl Morris is working with SAAVI to get a victim’s advocate down at the police department.

Harris said, above all, he wants students to know USU Police officers care about students and want to help.

“I’d like to make sure [students] know we’re here to help, and we are a resource for them,” Harris said. “We want to make sure our campus is the safest campus out there in the country.”

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