By Colin Killian, Public Communications Director
In this week’s episode of “What’s Up, College Station?” Marketing Coordinator Grace Hallowell and CSPD Public Information Office David Simmons discuss practical ways to protect your home and property if you’re away for the holidays, drinking responsibly at parties, and the safe exchange zone available at the police headquarters parking lot.
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If you have a suggestion for a future topic or interview, email me at ckillian@cstx.gov.
TRANSCRIPT EXCERPTS
Grace Hallowell:
What’s up College Station? I’m Grace Hallowell, and today I’m joined by Officer David Simmons from the College Station Police Department. So let’s kind of start off with if you are going out of town, what should you do to protect yourself and your home?
David Simmons:
So the main thing that we’d like to preach and stress is to get a security system, whether that just be like a Ring doorbell camera or whether it be outside cameras all around your property with motion sensors and things like that, things that are going to be able to record anything that might be suspicious or if somebody is trying to victimize you or your family, so…
Grace Hallowell:
Yes. And another helpful tip would be to let your neighbors know the dates that you’ll be out if you trust them. And with the security system, I know I had this issue, my doorbell camera, it’s plugged into our wall, but also it runs off of batteries and the batteries died and I did not know. So check your system’s batteries.
David Simmons:
Yes. Check your system’s batteries. Make sure your… like the software, make sure it’s updated. It’s unfortunate that people like to take advantage of people during the holiday season, but it’s there. And that’s what we’re here for is to hopefully be able to catch those people, but also remind the public these are ways to protect yourself.
Grace Hallowell:
Yes. And if somebody sees something suspicious, well, first of all, what kind of classifies as suspicious or what can people look for? The feeling that they have, what should they do if they have those suspicions?
David Simmons:
So I mean, if you’re seeing somebody on your camera or even if you’re seeing somebody that’s just walking down the street that doesn’t look like they belong there, you can give us a call, give our dispatch a call, and then they will determine if an officer needs to go out there or kind of just go from there. But it’s better to say something right then and there and it’d be nothing than to not say something and it’d be something.
Grace Hallowell:
Right. I know I used to help assist with the community living course and what we would tell the students would be, if you call 911 and you think that there’s something that needs attention, you’re not going to get in trouble. If it isn’t an emergency, they’ll tell you to call the dispatch number. Obviously if you’re calling that they forgot your pickles on your hamburger at McDonald’s, that’s a different story. But if you have concerns, definitely say something because while you guys have a large team of officers, there are more eyes in the community and you guys can’t be everywhere at this one time.
David Simmons:
Right. And the overwhelming majority of the community is quick to call and that helps us whether that be identifying certain suspects or stopping something, preventing something from happening. So we appreciate our community’s support.
Grace Hallowell:
Right. So what other holiday safety tips can you give us?
David Simmons:
Yeah, so obviously the main one is everybody’s getting together. They’re probably going to partake in some alcoholic beverages and things like that. Please be responsible. Don’t drink too much and if you do drink too much, have a plan in action. Don’t drink and drive. That’s a big one. With the students leaving, it’s not like our DWI numbers go down. They kind of stay the same.
Our officers are just able to go out and identify DWI drivers easier without the influx of college students here. But yeah, don’t drink and drive. Make sure you’re getting along with your family members and things like that. Don’t get in fights because then we get called out and things like that. But yeah, if you’re getting packages as well that are being sent through the mail and stuff, there’s been a lot of videos that have been circulating on the media of packages being stolen from front doorsteps and stuff. This is why we talked about the security cameras, but also being aware of your tracking numbers and things like that so that way you can get them, have a plan in place. If you have a good relationship with your neighbors, maybe say, “Hey, I’m going to be out of town. I’m expecting a package. Can you pick that up and hold it for me until I get back?”
Grace Hallowell:
Right. Another common thing, people buying and selling things on the internet or on Facebook marketplace. One unique thing that I’ve seen here in College Station is the safe exchange zone down at the police department. You can meet there right in the parking lot. It’s a safe area. I know I’m a fan of Facebook marketplace, although I send my husband to pick them up half the time.
David Simmons:
My wife does the same thing. Yes.
Grace Hallowell:
But he does use the safe exchange zone, and I think that’s something that not a lot of people know about.
David Simmons:
Correct. There’s two spots right in front of the police department. We’ve got cameras that are observing it all the time. We also have… there’s usually an officer or two that are around the corner, but that safe exchange zone is there for people who are selling merchandise or receiving some sort of merchandise. But it’s also for families that are going through child custody issues. So that’s another thing with the holidays is those child custody issues can either go peacefully or there can be a little bit of conflict. And that’s why we want our community to use our front parking lot. It doesn’t even have to be those two spaces. The whole entire parking lot is monitored. Please come. Please use it. And if you have any issues with buying, selling things, or child custody things, you can just give us a call and we’ll come out and we’ll help you out.
Grace Hallowell:
Yes, absolutely. You guys are there to help. So where can people find out more information and contact you? What is that non-emergency line number?
David Simmons:
Yeah, so that non-emergency line number is (979) 764-3600. We also have our Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter page. And that’s @CSTXPolice. That’s where we’re posting all kinds of the good that’s going on within our community, the events that we’re having like this weekend we have our Breakfast with Blue Santa. So we want everybody to show up. It’s a completely free event. Hey, we have it every year. It’s a huge event for us and we just love having it and seeing the kids’ faces when they get to see Santa not in the red costume, but in the blue costume, and get to meet all of our officers and they get to walk away with an experience as well as a free gift that maybe they might not have been able to get.
Grace Hallowell:
Yes. And remind us one more time, the date and time of Breakfast with Blue Santa.
David Simmons:
Yes. So that is December 7th at the police department, which is 800 Krenek Tap Road, and that is from 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM. But that whole weekend we’ve got all kinds of stuff. So you’re going to see a lot of officers out on the street with Breakfast with Blue Santa, then we’ve got the Christmas parade, and then we’ve got Christmas in the park.
Grace Hallowell:
So if you see our officers out there, say hi. They enjoy getting the waves and the hugs and the high-fives, all of that.
David Simmons:
Take a picture with them. They love it.
Grace Hallowell:
All right. Well thank you so much for joining me today.
David Simmons:
Absolutely. Thank you.
About the Blogger
Colin Killian has been with the City of College Station since 2010 after serving 23 years as the associate media relations director for the Texas A&M Athletics Department. He has also worked as a reporter and editor for the Corpus Christi Caller-Times and Lewisville News. A native of Hobbs, N.M., Killian graduated from Texas Tech with a bachelor’s degree in journalism/political science.
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