NEWS
8 THE REFLECTOR
APRIL 17, 2019
Speech from page 1
Photo by Tony Reeves
Photo by Tony Reeves
K-9 Officer Edo bites Officer Ryan Manley during a demonstration on Smith Mall on April 9. The dog was excited for the exercise.
Jada, a Dutch Shepard, bites the sleeve of Officer Manley during the event. She is currently being trained by Martinsville Police.
K-9s come to campus By Madison Gomez EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
The audience was excited as a K-9 unit brought in by a police officer salivated, waiting for a command to attack another officer who was taunting the dog, slamming his hands against the padding on his arm. When spoken to by the owner, the dog took off running, then latched onto the officer’s arm. This was one part of the routine Martinsville Police Officers displayed with their three dogs on April 9 at the Dog Demo event, hosted by the University of Indianapolis’ criminal justice honor society Alpha Phi Sigma. The other part included the K-9 units sniffing out drugs from boxes laid out on the ground. The dogs sat down to signify they found what they were looking for. Senior psychology and criminal justice double major Brielle Adney was the one to pitch the idea at a general meeting of the honor society. She asked her uncle, who was a K-9-unit officer, for his help, and he agreed. “It's really a chance for people who are interested in policing to see that there are other opportunities than just a police officer, where they can have a drug dog or they can do that type of other career, and [the event is] kind of interesting because I know pretty much everyone likes dogs," Adney said. “So it's kind of fun to come out and see what they do... I think it's pretty interesting even if you're not interested in criminal justice or anything [that goes] with it."
The event began with an introduction from the three officers and an explanation of what was about to occur, then dogs were brought out one by one. Each K-9 sniffed out the illegal substances and demonstrated how they catch suspects, using a durable sleeve for the officer’s safety. The sleeve, as the officers called it, is made out of a material called jute that is lined on the outside with plastic and padding on the inside. Officers use the sleeve when they begin training K-9's as puppies. Officer Dustin Tarr said that the sleeve is like a toy to the dogs because of how long they have been able to attack it. The dog then runs to attack the sleeve, biting and hanging on until they are told to stop. The pressure from the bite can be felt through the sleeve, but it does not injure them, Tarr said. The reason the dogs are able to sniff out the illegal substances is because of their sharp nose and acute training, according to Tarr. The dogs are trained to think the smell of drugs is one of their toys. They command the dog to go fetch their toys, and since the smell is the same as the substance, that is how they sniff out drugs. Getting the dogs here was a collaboration between Adney and Tarr, Adney had to make sure people knew about the event, while Tarr had to get shot records of the dogs to the school to be able to bring them here. “We very rarely turn anyone down for the K-9 demonstrations just because it’s such a tool, and everybody wants to see [the dogs] and we rely on dona-
Parking Portal launched By Noah Crenshaw ONLINE EDITOR
Following a year that saw several changes to the university’s parking system, the University of Indianapolis added a new online website, the UIndy Parking Portal, in order to modernize and streamline UIndy’s ticketing system. The portal was launched on March 6, according to an email from Vice President for Student and Campus Affairs and Dean of Students Kory Vitangeli. The website is designed to allow students, faculty and staff to log in and see their permits, according to Assistant Chief of UIndy Police Hailey Padgett-Riley. They are also able to see and pay any tickets they have on their account. Students, faculty and staff can use a credit card to pay their tickets on the portal. The website also has an option to request temporary parking passes. Padgett-Riley said that while faculty and staff can request a temporary pass for visitors through the portal. Visitors themselves cannot request those passes. Visitors have to have someone sponsor them in order to get the pass. If a visitor receives a parking ticket, they can go to the parking portal and create a guest account to pay, Padgett-Riley said. Visitors, along with students, faculty and staff, can appeal the citation on the portal as well as check the status of their appeal. According to Padgett-Riley, the software the university uses for the parking portal is designed by T2 Systems, which is based in Indianapolis. As a result of UIndy Police starting to use the software, Padgett-Riley said, they have had to change the way they enforce parking. “Instead of writing those paper tickets with the carbon copy on the back that we have been writing forever, you can now use tablets, which we use iPad Minis,” Padgett-Riley said. “We have two parking enforcement officers and they have those iPads and they can actually write or create tickets and then they have a mobile printer that prints out from the iPad. So that iPad is tied into the portal and to T2 [Systems] data. All they have to do is type in a permit num-
ber and it pulls up the whole registration—who's supposed to have it, what car it's supposed to be, where they're allowed to park—and then we just kind of compare it and make that citation decision based on that.” Padgett-Riley said that next academic year the university will be using the online portal to have students, faculty and staff fill out their parking registration forms. She said that in the past, someone had to manually enter each parking permit into their system. But, by using the online portal, the registration process will be easier and faster for all the parties involved. “There will be no waiting in line, no coming in person,” Padgett-Riley said. “You can do it all from home, from your residence hall, from your office and that will start around August...and those [parking passes] will actually be sent to you. So, if you're a student, they'll be sent to the residence halls. If you're a commuter, they'll be mailed to you. If you're faculty/staff, that would be sent to your department.” The university has also hired two new part-time parking enforcement officers, Padgett-Riley said. These officers started at the beginning of January, before the portal was launched, and their job is to act as a supplement to UIndy Police when it comes to parking enforcement. “We have two gentlemen who… you may see in a Ford pickup truck,” Padgett-Riley said. “They don't have anything marked on their vehicle, but they do wear khaki cargo pants and a polo and a jacket, when it's chilly, that says UIndy Parking Enforcement. They are totally dedicated to citations and keeping up with our parking policies.” UIndy Police is still involved in ticketing, Padgett-Riley said. She said that UIndy Police is still in the process of transitioning to the software, but once that transition is done, they expect it to make things easier in the long run. “We're [UIndy Police] still trying to get used to everything and what all of this, the system, can do and how it can help us and continue to streamline processes,” Padgett-Riley said. “We were the ones that proposed it [the software], [and] we are the ones that have been working to implement it.”
tions for equipment and such because it [costs] so much to keep them in service,” Tarr said. Junior criminal justice major and Secretary of Alpha Phi Sigma Delanie Kent said she went to the event because she was interested in seeing what the K-9 units do. She said she learned a lot from the event, Kent said, because she has the same dog as two of the officers, a Belgian Shepherd Malinois and the explanation given at the beginning of the demo helped explain her dog’s aggressive and attentive behaviour. Kent’s favorite part of the evening, she said, was the demonstration with the sleeve. Tarr said that if one wants to go into law enforcement, he or she should consider looking at the K-9 track of the force. While each process and standards differ from department to department, according to Tarr, the process at his station is having two or three years of service on the force and showing an interest prior to applying for the unit. His dog, Edo, came from a shelter in Rhode Island that trains puppies to be ready for the law enforcement. There the owner of the shelter does a “tennis ball test” to see if the dogs were able to be trained. The test is simply throwing a tennis ball and commanding the dog to fetch it, and if they do, it shows that they can take commands and have the possibility to be trained. “It's very rewarding. It's an enjoyable thing…,” Tarr said. “The bond that you build with your dog, it becomes your partner and you trust them just as much as they trust you.”
importance of eye care in the developing world, published in a book called Winning Orations. Wideman also said that the team more than doubled the number of members who progressed to finals. Last year, she said that the team had five quarter finalists. This year, there were 13 quarter finalists, five of whom went to semi-finals and one national champion. The team was also ranked 15th in the nation. “I think if I'm reflecting on their [the students’] placements, my philosophy on the team is focused on the process, not the product,” Wideman said of the team’s success. “Because if you're always worried about what place you're going to get, it's going to get in the way of your preparation that you need to get you to that place. And what I've been most proud of is if they've done that and additionally, they've also focused on continual forward movement….I think that this year has been an excellent example of how hard work, focusing on the process, reaps great rewards for us.” Senior supply chain management major Vanessa Hickman said that her final competition was bittersweet. While she performed well at nationals—ranking in top 12 in the nation for duo interpretation and top 24 for persuasion—and looks forward to having a less demanding schedule now that the season is over, Hickman said she will use skills she has learned through speech and debate throughout her future career. “Obviously I’ve learned how to do better research, how to better find sources. I’ve learned to be a better advocate about things that happen here but also in internationally,” Hickman said. “I’ve learned to build stronger argument structure. I’ve learned leadership skills about myself, I’ve learned things I want to do and what don’t I want to do.” Hickman, in addition to being team captain, is the only current member of the team who has spent her whole college career competing. She said she thinks the speech team should prioritize retention of members, and that what she has enjoyed most about speech over her tenure is that it allows her to speak up about issues she is passionate about. For example, two of her favorite speeches she has given are “The Demonic Sexualization of Women,” which centered on society’s tendency to sexualize women, and a recent speech comparing the Greek legend of Circe, a sorceress who turned men into pigs, with the “#MeToo” movement. In the
latter speech, Hickman said she turned the idea of a “witch hunt” on its head by portraying that “this is a witch hunt, except this time the witches are doing the hunting,” meaning that victims are hunting and taking revenge on those who assault or harass them. “At the end of the day, it’s not about us,” Hickman said. “Whether it’s about the ‘#MeToo’ movement or the demonic sexualization of women...Every speech has a meaning. We’re advocating for people. That’s most impactful for me.” Watching the progression of the students and the pride they feel when advocating for issues that are important to them, Wideman said, is the most rewarding aspect of her role on the team. She works with the students alongside three assistant coaches—Jim Thorpe, Chad Woodward and Clarissa Bowers—to help the students improve and gain confidence. “It's nice to watch them own their events, own their performances with their own voices,” Wideman said. “And I'm there to help, our coaching staff is here to help, but these are really their voices that they're taking out into the public sphere. And so the pride is when I see a look in their eye or hear them talking about, ‘I didn't think I could do this, I didn't think people would listen’ and they just have a new sense of themselves.” The only remaining competition for any speech team member this season is the Interstate Oratory Tournament, the oldest speech and debate tournament in the country, held at Westchester College in Philadelphia at the end of the month. Because he placed first at the state competition in persuasive speaking, Chigazda will be there, representing the state of Indiana. Not long after, he will leave the United States to spend two weeks with family in Zimbabwe before traveling to Shanghai. “It’s a chance to represent not only myself but the school,” Chigadza said. “So there’s certain expectations that I definitely want to meet. I always go hard on myself when it comes to those instances where I need to be able to go and represent where I’m coming from and also show them exactly what the UIndy spirit is about….It’s a chance for us to go and just show people that things do happen at UIndy. We might be a small school, people might confuse us for whatever other school it is, but things do happen at UIndy and I think that they are going to continue to happen in the future.”
CONGRATULATIONS
to the Class of 2019
FROM YOUR UINDY ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
stay involved: uindyalumni U INDY.EDU/ALU MNI
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