Fitted with a bright yellow vest, sophomore Marcia Howard approached a sedan in the very back of a West Campus parking lot removed from everything, which is an unusual place to park, and especially at night. Inside, she saw a sleeping couple: a homeless man and his girlfriend.

She quickly called AACC’s Police Department, and officers shooed the couple from the campus.

Like six other students, Howard is a member of the Police Department’s Lot Patrol and walks the campus parking lots, looking for potential problems and alerting police when she finds them.

“It’s very rewarding to help people and to be a presence in the parking lots to let students know they are safe here at AACC,” Howard said.

The Lot Patrol program hires full-time students to work part-time with the Police Department.
AACC’s Chief of Police and Director of Public Safety, Sean Kapfhammer, resurrected the Lot Patrol program upon his arrival in June.

“The Lot Patrol program helps morale on campus,” Kapfhammer said. “People feel safer when they see a patrol person walking around.”

In the first week of classes last semester, Howard went through the necessary background checks to become one of the seven students patrolling AACC’s parking lots.

“I decided to apply because [Lot Patrol] is very different from anything I have ever done before,” Howard said. “I also enjoy it because I get to be active in the AACC community.”

Howard said working with Lot Patrol has been rewarding and has made her feel she is a part of something bigger.

“[Lot Patrol] is like nothing I have ever done before. And I have definitely logged plenty of miles walking,” Howard said.

Jimmy Nguyen, a freshman electrical engineering major working part-time with Lot Patrol, said he puts Crime Prevention Reminder tickets on at least one car a day.

“It’s a pretty slow job for the most part, but sometimes we see some cool stuff,” Nguyen said of his patrol shifts. “One time I saw a dog left in a car, and one time I saw a couple having sex in their car. I give tickets to let drivers know we are here for them, but mostly I call the officers in and let them do their jobs.”

Additionally, Lot Patrol can escort anyone on the Arnold, Arundel Mills or Glen Burnie Town Center campuses who has requested one. The service escorts any guest, student, faculty or staff member.
To request a Lot Patrol escort, call 410-777-1818, or activate the Code Blue Emergency phones around the campus.