Campus looks a little odd from the back of a squad car — a criminal cocoon on wheels.
The noises of passing cars, partying students and the crackle of the police radio are muffled behind a plate of Plexiglass. The doors don’t open, the windows don’t roll down and the hard plastic of the seat could make even a well-padded butt go numb. The groove designed for arrestees sitting on handcuffed arms is the only thing that could be called an amenity.
Making eye contact with pedestrians is usually answered with “Aw, that sucks” — and a pitying stare.
“Most everything looks different from the back of a police car,” Officer Heather Stevenson of University Police yells through the partition.
Stevenson has been with UP for almost six years. This Saturday night she’s on the midnight shift and has to tote around two wide-eyed journalists for a ride-along.
At this point Stevenson is on her second cigarette. The aroma of a Philly’s Best pizza seeps through the plexiglass and mixes with the musty odor of plastic. The car stops and the radar goes on. Because of the “halo effect,” anyone noticing the police car eases off the gas.
Once the pizza has disappeared, the car rolls back onto Sheridan Road.
Seconds later a rendezvous with another UP unit yields a pair of buzzed Navy boys. Two sailors have decided to take a stroll down Sheridan Avenue with a bottle of Captain Morgan rum, said Lt. Shaun Johnson of UP.
The liquor is poured out. The men are slapped with a $75 C-ticket for violating a city ordinance and reprimanded for lying about their names.
Stevenson said weekends usually are busier for UP and Evanston Police Department.
“On this shift almost everything (calls) we have is self-generated,” Stevenson said.
On most nights EPD generally does have a large volume of calls, she said.
“(UP’s) calls are a little more low-key,” said Stevenson, who added that UP does not deal with shootings on the west end of Howard Street.
But UP does have a host of unique situations on campus. Next stop: the Lakefill. It’s time to bust up some kissing couples.
There also was a couple making out there Friday night, Stevenson said.
“I warned them about the rats — told them they were jumping on people,” she laughed.
This evening a couple in a car behind Sports Pavilion and Aquatics Center elicits a hilarious remark and a quick “Don’t quote me on that!” from Stevenson.
Stevenson then makes a run by the Zeta Beta Tau house to check on the fraternity’s party.
At ZBT’s request two UP officers already are monitoring the action.
Soon a call over the radio sends Stevenson to drop off pamphlets at EPD.
“We have a really good working relationship (with EPD),” Stevenson said.
Errand complete, Stevenson beelines back to the station to pick up garbage bags meant to hold evidence from a frat bust.
Johnson already is on the scene.
“We kinda walked into something unexpected,” he said. “An innocent stop of some people shooting off some fireworks turned into something more substantial.”
Johnson and Stevenson remained mum on the contents of two bags sitting in the trunk.
Johnson would only say the bags held “items of contraband.”
“Everything in the garbage bags is not fireworks,” Stevenson added.
With her fifth cigarette glowing in the gloom of the car, Stevenson heads back to the station.
She has a date with paperwork scheduled for the rest of the morning.
