UW Oshkosh police chief candidate Cynthia Estrup spoke on building relationships between the UWO police department and campus community on Nov. 26. Estrup is a police sergeant at UW-Green Bay where she has held the position for the last three years. Estrup previously worked as a campus police officer at UW-Whitewater for over a decade. “I have a true passion and love for campus policing,” Estrup said. “I love working with students as a prevention and support piece as opposed to just arresting people.” Estrup focused on the relationships between the police department and student body, as well as the community in general. “Building relationships is imperative to a campus [and] community oriented police department,” Estrup said. “Finding out the backgrounds of students and continuing to build positive contacts is a must, mainly to show that we are people and not just police officers.” Estrup divided her plan into five distinct sections: police department, student body, community/other UW campuses, prevention, and inclusivity. Each piece of her plan continues to revolve around building positive relationships. “I see the campus police as a campus partner, and we need to continue to build on the positive relationships that the campus police already have here at UWO,” Estrup said. “We want to be looked at as a resource and someone who can help, not just someone to call when a crime is committed.” Estrup said she aims to not only build these relationships with students on campus, but with members in her department and other campus departments as well. “Building relationships within our police department to identify strengths and weaknesses is important as well as reaching out to other departments on campus for solutions,” Estrup said. “Working with the office of resident life or the office of the dean of students are all important in maintaining positive relationships on campus.” Oshkosh Student Association President Jordan Schettle said there are skills the new police chief should have in an ever changing world. “They should be someone who has a modern sense of the world,” Schettle said. Aza Muzorewa, a senior at UWO majoring in Radio/TV/Film, attended the forum and plans to attend as many as he can as he feels these are important learning experiences for all students. “Being a student here for four plus years, I feel like this is a big change that is coming to the campus,” Muzorewa said. “This is a perfect opportunity for students to ask the questions that they want to know the answers to. The [campus police] are here to make sure that students feel safe, and if you think that this is not being met, this is the perfect time to voice your concern.” Muzorewa said he stresses the importance of other students attending similar forums in the future. “I would definitely encourage other students to come to forums if they have the time,” Muzorewa said. “It is your campus, and we should have someone who is listening to our concerns.”