The University Police Department plans to have the Panther Patrol up and running in November.

The Panther Patrol will be comprised of student employees whose job will be to check the buildings and parking lots on campus. They will also be available to walk students who do not feel safe to their car or residence hall.

To have a patrolman walk you home, a student will need call a dispatcher, which will be created for the Panther Patrol, who would then direct the patrolman to their location.

They will only be allowed to escort those walking on campus.

University Chief of Police Adam Due said they would not go to places outside of the campus.

“If someone said, ‘I am coming from uptown,’ we are not going up there to meet them,” he said. “But we would meet them at the edge of campus and then escort them to their destination.

Starting out, Due expects to have four to eight people out on patrol per night working from 10 p.m. until 2 p.m. Due said when the Panther Patrol program is initiated, it will be more of a test run.

“We are not sure how it is going to work out. We want to start a bit smaller and slower to start out,” Due said.

He said he expects to see campus employees to use this service when walking to their cars.

UPD is working with Jody Stone and Abby Ford to get this off the ground.

Due said the plan is to make Panther Patrol just another part of the night assistant program. The panther patrol will be the mobile unit of this program.

“While they will be assigned to the residence hall lobby, these students (Panther Patrollers) will be checking the exterior of the building and the parking lots.”

While the night assistant supervisors already check the exterior of the residence halls, the Panther Patrol will be expanding to all of the buildings on campus including the academic buildings.

Due said the patrollers would likely be equipped with flashlights and rain gear.

They are only expected to observe and report if there is a problem. They will have the same rights and privileges of any other citizens.

“They will be extra eyes for the police,” Due said.

He also said previous volunteer groups started by fraternities and the ROTC did not work out because of some of the volunteers would not show up to the locations or volunteers would just stop doing it.

With this new program, Due said it would ensure those who need assistance would not feel uncomfortable with the patrollers.

Due added he hopes with the UPD and Housing and Dining running the program, it will be more organized and more professional.

Jarad Jarmon can be reached at 581-2812 or jsjarmon@eiu.edu.