Alumna finds career on
campus
BY LISA TREI
Deputy Laura Wilson blames
her crime-busting career on a Stanford veteran cop, Lt.
Nick Brunot.
"I wanted to be a
firefighter," says this 1991 Stanford hum bio grad
and former Athletics Department ticket sales staffer.
"But Lt. Brunot used to come into my office and talk
about [joining] the police department."
Wilson, a native of
Houston, Texas, decided it wouldn't hurt to apply to the
Department of Public Safety. Five years later, she is one
of the department's sworn officers and the force behind
its new police bicycle patrol.
"I guess they call us
klingons," Wilson says, smiling about her decision
to stay on campus after graduation. "There're a lot
of us. This is a tough job I'm making some people
unhappy. But sometimes people appreciate what you're
doing and that makes it worthwhile. I like it here
because you deal with a bright, articulate community of
motivated people who are going places."
Wilson, a 30-year-old
triathlete who ran track at Stanford and was a member of
the cycling team, recently learned how to use a bicycle
in police work. She decided the skills could be extended
to a sprawling campus dominated by people on bikes.
Most police departments in
the Bay Area use cycle-riding officers, she says. So last
quarter, five Stanford officers appeared on campus
sporting helmets and shiny silver $1,000 mountain bikes.
"You're just a little
bit more approachable on a bike, so it's a public
relations tool," Wilson says. "Also, bikes are
quiet. We've used them on a stakeout [to catch] an auto
burglar."
A shortage of campus
police officers this quarter means that regular
two-member cycle patrols inside the boundary of Campus
Drive and the residential areas won't start until spring,
but Brunot says many officers are interested in training
for the sporty beat.
"This is one of the
most popular programs we've had in years," he says.
Wilson, a member of the
International Police Mountain Biking Association, has
taught Deputies Mark Thomsen, Victor Lee and Ken Bates
and Sgt. David Lee how to ride and stop safely on a
variety of surfaces, and how to descend and ascend steps.
She also has taught group riding and etiquette skills and
how to stop quickly without losing control.
Wilson says it will take
some time for the Stanford cycling community to get used
to following traffic laws. "Bikes haven't stopped
for stop signs here ever," she says. "It's
going to be a little strange getting them to obey
[rules]."
So far, officers have
handed out tickets to cyclists for riding through a stop
sign, not having a registered bike and for riding without
a bike light at night.
Although the greatest
dangers often occur where officers cannot enforce road
regulations walking or riding on crowded Lasuen Mall
during class changes can be dangerous Wilson says just
the presence of officers may encourage riders to act more
responsibly.
John Ciccarelli, manager
of the university's bicycle program, says the biggest
infractions on campus include cyclists riding through
stop signs, riding down the wrong side of the street,
riding on a sidewalk when a road exists nearby, and
riding through a crosswalk and not yielding to
pedestrians who have the right of way.
"I call it the wild,
wild west," he says. "We could really change
the culture. Just the presence of authority on bikes is
an eye-opener."
When Wilson's not on a
bike, or on beat patrol, she spends her day working with
new recruits as a field training officer. She teaches
first aid and is a member of the sexual assault response
team on campus. She is also a representative of a group
called TEAM, or Techniques for Effective Alcohol
Management, which works to heighten awareness of alcohol
abuse by fans at sporting events.
One day, Wilson says, she
would like to be a police chief at a college. After
studying and working here most of her adult life, she
says Stanford feels like home. "There's just this
sense of community, of having a common goal," she
says. SR
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