Security Staff Down to One Officer: Are Students Safe?

By Brooke Manuel, Skyline Editor

ALPINE – After 11 years of service to the Sul Ross community, Kent Dunegan, the former director of public safety, says he was forced into retirement over the summer. Multiple SRSU officers followed in his departure, leaving the university police force currently with only one officer.  

Still, university officials insist that student safety is not compromised, with any gaps being covered by the Alpine Police and Sheriff’s Departments. 

In October, when the campus police force was down to three, Vice President for Student Affairs Ben Telesca discussed the issue with the Skyline, assuring students that they were safe with the assistance of local law enforcement. 

“We have assistance from APD and Brewster County,” Telesca said. 

With no apparent change in campus crime statistics, Telesca seems to have been right. 

In addition to local help, SRSU police have turned to some innovative policing techniques such as stationing unmanned cruisers in high traffic areas on campus. 

Nevertheless, some students remain concerned. 

“I honestly feel like it’s really concerning, especially with the measures they’ve taken,” said Yolanda Ray Carlos, a student. “They kind of, for the meantime, placed police cars in different areas of the university just to give off the effect that there’s more than one police.” 

At this time last year, the Sul Ross police department employed seven officers. Despite increases in enrollment in the last year, Sul Ross now has only one officer on staff, according to Desiree Baeza, office manager of the campus police department. 

The reason for the exodus of campus police remains unclear. But Dunegan, the former chief, attributes it to a “hostile work environment” and dishonesty on the part of his superiors. 

They “were doing things that were detrimental to my department,” Dunegan told the Skyline. 

Dunegan, who claims he was dismissed without being given a reason and that the university threatened to cut his benefits if he spoke to the media, said he has filed a grievance related to his departure.