The Kansas State Police Department and the Riley County Police Department respond to many crimes daily ranging from theft to battery and disorderly conduct — each report is handled and documented.
The campus police responded to over 160 incidents since the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year. Bradli Millington, support services lieutenant, said the majority of crimes reported on campus involve bike theft.
Of the 162 cases, 34 percent involved theft or burglary. On average, one in every 13 crimes will result in an arrest.
“On game days — excluding this year — there’s a lot of alcohol violations and criminal trespass,” Millington said.
RCPD assists the campus police with the flow of traffic for football games, but they assist one another more than some might think, Millington said.
“With the new [memorandum of understanding], we’re always sending officers down to Aggieville to help,” Millington said. “They come and help us on game days. They’re lifesavers because we don’t have the numbers to do all the traffic.”
The memorandum of understanding gives a jurisdictional obligation to KSU Police to respond when necessary while traveling off-campus property if there is an incident requiring law enforcement interaction.
Related:
Campus Police Activity: Feb. 1 to Feb. 21
Aaron Wintermote, public information officer for the RCPD, said the relationship between the two departments is deeper than the jurisdictional agreement laid out on paper.
“If one of us requests aid from the other for whatever reason — there’s not necessarily a criteria for that,” Wintermote said. “But if we do need help, both agencies are very willing to come help with whatever the other one would need and that happens on a daily basis.”
RCPD faces similar incidents in and around the Manhattan area that the campus police faces, just at a larger scale geographically.
Over 1,300 crimes were reported in Manhattan since Aug. 17, 2020. The RCPD also respond to many thefts. However, the most crime recorded is simple battery.
“[The batteries] could be one of a couple different things,” Wintermote said. “Some of these batteries that get lumped into [the statistics] are domestic-related.”
For more information on crimes in the Riley County area, RCPD offers a free, public crime map on its website.
