The Hocking College Police Department is located behind Light and Oakley Halls off of Loop Road and is next to the Hocking Heights Residence Hall. The department is a full service police agency that derives its authority from Ohio Revised Code Section 3345.04. The primary objective of the department is to provide a safe and healthy environment that enhances campus living and learning experiences and compliments the College's educational mission.

The department has officers on duty 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, and works closely with Nelsonville Police Department in the enforcement of federal, state and local statutes, as well as college regulations. The department maintains a staff of one full-time Police Chief, four full-time Police Officers, and three part-time Police Officers. The officers are uniformed and armed, commissioned by the College with full enforcement and arrest powers, and provide vehicle and foot patrols throughout the college community.

In addition to the police officers, the department also staffs 35 student employees as Campus Safety Officers and five student employees as Parking Enforcement Officers. These students provide communication services to the Police Department and assist police officers with campus patrol, emergency message services, motorist assists and parking enforcement, but have no arrest or police authority.

The Police Department is a pro-active agency that provides community oriented policing to the Hocking College community. Members of the community are encouraged to report criminal activity or emergency situations to the department.

Crime Prevention Programs

Hocking College offers a number of programs designed to prevent crime and ensure safety for students and employees.

• Action ID - The Hocking College Police Department works with residence hall staff to assist students with the engraving of their Owner Applied Number (OAN) on personal property. This helps facilitate the return of property recovered by the department.
• Physical Consulting Program - During the planning and construction phases of new and renovated buildings, the Police Chief consults with architects and engineers to ensure that the structural design offers the greatest degree of safety.
• Escort Program - An escort is available 24-hours a day by contacting the Police Department. This program offers students, faculty and staff a safe passage when the need arises. Escorts will maintain direct radio contact with the Police Department Dispatch Center.
• Special Topics Programs - Upon request, college representatives provide programming on various topics including fire safety, identity theft, personal defense, sexual assault awareness, and drug identification, to name a few. These programs can be requested by any member of the campus community for presentation to residence life, academic, student organization, or employee audiences.

Mobile Communications

Along with utilizing traditional campus security practices, Hocking College stays ahead of the curve by offering the benefit of text message alerts through Nixle, a mobile communications system. Nixle participants will receive instant alerts via cell phone for Hocking College's emergency issues such as campus closings, power outages and severe weather.

Annual Security and Fire Safety Report

Learn more regarding our campus safety efforts in Hocking College's Annual Security and Fire Safety Report. The information included in this report is provided to help further our commitment, as well as provide data in compliance with the Campus Security Act of 1990, the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act of 1998, and the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008.