Ray Whitehouse/The Daily Whitehouse
Hours after the evening rush hour, Bobby Benjamin starts his commute. He leaves Chicago’s North Side, drives north to Evanston and starts his shift with an 8 p.m. meeting at the Northwestern University Police station.
Then Benjamin walks to Elder Hall, one of the NU dorms he has worked at as a community service officer since 2007.
“Kids here are like younger brothers or sisters to me,” said Benjamin, 27. “I’m here for their safety.”
On Thursday night, a poster with the words “thank you” spelled out in black and gold letters hung behind Benjamin in the Elder entryway. Across campus Thursday, students made posters and thanked their CSOs as part of the first-ever University Police and CSO Appreciation Day.
For Benjamin, it was another work night.
The first few hours of the night are busy at Elder, Benjamin said. He looks over a couple newspapers, but with students coming in and out nearly constantly, he’s frequently greeting residents and signing in guests.
“When it’s busy,” he said, “it’s good.”
Benjamin recognizes nearly all of the Elder residents, and many stop by to say hello on their way in or out.
“I love Bobby,” said Jenny Lee, a Communication freshman who lives in Elder. “He’s your friend, but at the same time he’s really protective and fatherly.”
Benjamin also gives good “boy advice,” Lee added.
From behind the CSO desk, Benjamin keeps an eye on everyone coming into the building and watches for signs of trouble.
When it comes to students who have been drinking, Benjamin treads a fine line.
He’s “not trying to bully nobody around,” but he wants to keep his residents safe, he said.
One time, he recalled, a student came in “really drunk,” and Benjamin called the community assistant on duty to come and help. At Benjamin’s request, the CA called him back when the student could not be woken up, and Benjamin called paramedics.
Benjamin has summoned assistance more than 10 times this year, and many of the cases have involved alcohol. He will also turn male guests away if their female companion appears scared or impaired, he said. He has a 25-year-old sister and said he tries to protect the residents the same way he’d protect her.
Benjamin graduated from Northeastern Illinois University in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in justice studies. He said he hopes to become a police officer, possibly for UP.
“You can’t just become a cop right off the bat,” he said. “You got to start somewhere, so here I am.”
As the night goes on, the activity in the Elder lobby slows. Benjamin looks forward to 1 a.m., when CSOs are allowed to bring out their laptops. And starting at around 3:30 a.m., it usually gets quiet enough for Benjamin to read a book.
Two years ago, students walking into Elder Hall at night would have been greeted by a student security monitor. All across campus, monitors worked 8 p.m. to midnight shifts and were paid through a work-study program.
It was sometimes difficult, though, for the monitors to enforce rules among their fellow students, said Dan McAleer, assistant chief of UP.
“There was a cry from the students for a more professional security force to be put in place,” he said.
In the fall of 2007, UP replaced the student monitors with a team of CSOs.
The CSO program was the third component of a 2007 security plan that also involved locking secondary doors and installing closed-circuit television cameras, McAleer said. Dormitory crimes such as theft and property damage have decreased noticeably since those changes went into effect, he said.
The program covers the 20 largest residences on campus, McAleer said. UP tries to place the same two CSOs in the same dorms each week to build a positive relationship between the officers and the residents.
Benjamin works Monday through Thursday this quarter, and his work nights are over at 6 a.m. When he gets back to Chicago, he often goes for a morning run.
After that, it’s bedtime.
