 "Photo: Peter Franklin; The Daily Texan")
A group of students inspected a table of battering rams and riot gear while several UT Police Department officers played a round of golf wearing beer goggles outside Gregory Gym Tuesday.
UTPD met with students and faculty at the Gregory Gym Aquatic Complex and Jasper Park at the Brackenridge Apartment Complex for the 25th annual National Night Out. The event is designed to bring community members together and introduce citizens to the police force that serves them.
University police officer William Pieper said the event is designed to get people to come out of their homes for a night and improve local watch groups. As an incentive, door prizes were awarded to attendees, including an iPod Nano, boat rentals and LSAT classes, he said.
“Our hope is that people will come together and buy into the fact that we are a community and a family,” Pieper said.
Pieper said between 400 and 500 people show up for the event on campus each year. The event is celebrated in other parts of the country in August, but the day was moved to October in Texas to accommodate the weather and classes, he said.
UTPD officers manned several tables that addressed crime prevention techniques and the Behavior Concerns Advice Line. The department was joined by the Office of the Dean of Students, the Division of Housing and Food Service, RecSports and University Health Services.
Mechanical engineering freshman Jeff Din said he benefitted from learning about Student Legal Services from the Office of the Dean of Students and crime prevention tips from UTPD.
“I’m learning stuff that I never knew before,” Din said, “Like apparently, laptop locks are useless.”
Kinesiology senior Jackie Keller said the event allowed students to get to know their neighbors and police department, whose officers might not always be approachable.
“I get a lot more respect from them than just these authoritative figures that yell at me,” Keller said.
