Karen Jarnagin and Scott Stafford are faces whom most students will never see, but they provide the hub for student safety on campus.
As dispatchers for the University Police Department, Jarnagin and Stafford became well aware of the importance of their jobs.
"We never see the people we're dealing with," Jarnagin said. "Police officers deal with the public more. As a dispatcher, you never see the end results."
Jarnagin and Stafford partner together every Thursday night in the UPD dispatcher room as the behind-the-scenes directors of safety information.
Thursday night is the busiest night of the week for UPD, the dispatchers said.
Jarnagin works Tuesday through Saturday nights, 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. These are known as the "midnight" shifts.
She worked at the Muncie Jail for four-and-a-half years before joining UPD. Her reason for the move to University Police was that she wanted to do something else, she said.
Stafford works up to 80 hours a week, dispatching three "midnights" and two afternoon shifts weekly in addition to being an emergency medical technician. He graduated from Ball State in 1998 with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and criminology. That education level, however, is not required for his job, Stafford said.
Stafford worked at the 911 Center in downtown Muncie for six years before joining the UPD.
"We are not only the dispatchers for University Police," Stafford said. "We're also the backup system for the 911 Center, and we have to train for the Sheriff's Department, Emergency Medical Service and fire department." Jarnagin said she could not have handled her current job if she had not worked previously at the jail. "You have to be able to listen to three things at once," she said. "We work hand-in-hand with Muncie fire fighters and police. They rely on us to listen to their channels." The Department of Public Safety encompasses residence hall security, Parking Services and patrol officers. Four officers are on the road during the night. They, and the dispatchers, are under the guidance of a shift supervisor, either a corporal or sergeant. Stafford estimated that dispatchers learn about 60 codes for radio "police talk." Each dispatcher takes the occupation earnestly. "Our main goal is definitely to keep officers safe," Stafford said. "We relay information to them as best we can because they are going in blind and have no clue what might happen next." "One minute officers are driving in a car, and the next moment they're chasing somebody down," Jarnagin said. Good relations between officers and dispatcher are imperative, both said. "They take care of us, and in return, we take care of them," Stafford said. "If the phone rings (while an) officer is somewhere in a high-risk situation, I won't pick up the phone. "Officers get emotional sometimes too. They are human beings like everyone else, but they just have a duty to do." Because each has roughly two years experience, stories of Thursday night exploits by Ball State students are plentiful. Stafford once fielded a call about two people swimming, possibly nude, in the duck pond at 4 a.m. The trespassing offenders were never apprehended. Jarnagin said her busiest night came when a shooting occurred at Club Olympus in the Village. "Nothing was happening, then I was busy for four hours straight," she said. "You have to start prioritizing what comes first, second and last." Both said the most interesting calls involve streakers. "They seem to follow each other," Jarnagin said. "We'll have one, two, three in a row for a while." Most residence hall calls come from LaFollette and Studebaker complexes, Stafford said. He also said many officers were once Ball State students and will give students more leniency than "the average Joe in Muncie" because the officers may have once acted similarly. Stafford said that if a student offender is cordial with an officer, he or she might get a break or even a ride home. If the student exhibits poor behavior, he or she will be cited. Stafford said university public safety workers tend to be more understanding than other police departments when relating to college-age offenders. The busiest hours are 11 p.m. to 4 a.m., he said. "You have to have humor about it," Stafford said. "Some people can't do this job." "You do it because you love it," Jarnagin said. "Money's surely not your initiative." The staff of five UPD dispatchers are each paid a $23,000 salary, Stafford said. The most frequent calls involve suspicious subjects or intoxicated people, Jarnagin said. Loud parties and fights, especially near Village bars, are also common.
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