With campus police adding firearms to the uniform, UOPD joins the ranks of armed security in Eugene that includes the Eugene Police Department and the Lane County Sheriff’s office. While it is a big step toward keeping the city protected, it is also important to look at how the local departments can keep from stepping on each other’s toes.

EPD Captain Karl Durr, a 29-year police veteran who took over the desk this year after transferring from the Palm Beach County Sherrif’s Office in Florida, says the two have worked in concert since he’s been on the job by being in constant communication.

“We have a good relationship with the U of O overall, especially the UOPD,” Durr said in an interview with the Emerald. “If there are any issues that come up we work together with them. We have an officer at the West University substation, which is near the campus but not on the campus, who can sort of be the go-between.”

Part of that success, too, is having a number of employees who have worked at either station.

“The chief was a former EPD lieutenant here before she went to UOPD,” Durr said. Carolyn McDermed, the chief of campus police, spent 17 years with the city police.

EPD has 186 sworn officers in its command, almost an army compared to UOPD’s 10. Though UOPD’s jurisdiction is primarily the 295-acre campus, crime can sometimes spill out past the edges. Both departments can tag-team a case if necessary.

“There are lots of things that spillover on campus,” UOPD spokesman Kelly McIver said. “We may be dealing with people here who may be engaging in criminal activities in other parts of the community.”

For example, on Sept. 15 UOPD was called to a suspicious man near the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art who was suspected of carrying an explosive device of some kind. By the time UOPD arrived, the man had migrated toward Alder Street where campus police could corral him with the help of the officers at EPD’s West University substation. The suspect was cited and taken to a hospital.

“The territory on the ground, the boundary marks, those are just marks of responsibility. Our job is to work collaboratively to get the job done,” Durr said. UOPD and McIver insist that their number one priority will always be campus.

“We just don’t have a lot of bodies to throw at things that are happening off campus because our primary mission is to make sure the campus is secure,” McIver said.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story mistakenly called the Captain rank of Eugene Police Department “the top desk.” Chief Pete Kerns holds that position