ISO = Institutional Security Officer. CPO = Campus Police Officer
ISO: Job responsibilities are to secure all academic buildings; perform faculty/staff and student let ins to academic buildings and rooms only. Some ISO's are cross trained as Dispatchers.
ISO's wear a uniform which is a gray or brown shirt and dark blue pants. They also wear a badge that says Institutional Security Officer and a patch which says the same. iso's do not have any powers of arrest, or any police powers at all for that matter which is why they are ISO's and not CPO's. they can wear a duty belt which consists of a radio holder, flashlight holder and key holder if wanted. ISO's are not required to attend any type of academy although some have attended the Massachusetts Reserve intermittent Academy.
CPO: Job responsibilities are to patrol the grounds of the campus including contiguous ways, respond to both emergency calls and non emergency calls for service, uphold and enforce the rules and regulations of the college along with Massachusetts General Laws. All CPO's are expected to investigate crimes and and make arrests or file criminal applications if warranted.
All CPO's are expected to complete a 16 week training academy known as The Special State Police Academy which is located at the Massachusetts State Police Academy in New Braintree. After completing the academy the CPO is issued a warrant for arrest powers from the Superintendent of The Massachusetts State Police, see (M.G.L Chapter 22c Section 63). Many of our CPO's have specialized training in many areas such as: Sexual Assault Investigation, RAD Instruction, FTO Training, Domestic Violence, Drug Identification, Crime scene investigation, Detective School, DT instruction, etc...
CPO's uniforms are a french blue shirt, dark blue pants with blue piping, badge which reads Framingham State College Special State Police Officer, Sergeant, Lieutenant or whatever their rank is. We wear a patch that reads Framingham State college Police on 1 sleeve and an American Flag on the other. Our duty belts consist of plain leather with keepers 2 handcuff holders, either case or strap with 2 sets of real live handcuffs, a radio holder with a radio in it, a baton holder with a baton in it and an OC holder with a real can of full OC. We also wear police boots.
As for working at Framingham State like stated you have to deal with the usual Campus PD BS. We work closely with Framingham PD however we investigate all crimes that happen in our jurisdiction and Framingham does not really patrol in our area because we are here. If a crime happens which requires an arrest we place the suspect into custody and place them into the back of one of our 3 fully marked cruisers, 2 of which are brand new. We then in most cases mirandise the suspect and transport them to either Framingham PD or State Police Headquarters on Rt 9 in Framingham. they are booked by the CO and our officer stands by searches the suspect, fingerprints them if necessary and places them into a holding cell. Our officer will then enter a report narrative with cover sheet into our CAD and log all evidence into our evidence locker, which is later entered into the evidence room by the evidence officer. He/she will also fill out a criminal application. Our court officer will then bring the crim ap down to court the next day and appear if needed. Many times Framingham police will call us for assistance, most recently to assist with a large brawl at an off campus house party where people were stabbed.
I could go on but I am tired of explaining to people that we are real cops. If they don't get it by now then thats their problem. I hope this clears up the question of what it is like to work at FSCPD, and they difference between ISO and CPO.
Feel free to pm me or email me if you have any more questions about employment at FSCPD.