Since becoming the university’s new Chief of Police in June, Tom Saccenti said he’s noticed that most Furman students don’t know any of the names of their campus officers.

It’s a problem that Saccenti, who came to Furman from Marietta College in Ohio to replace the retiring Bob Miller, aims to change.

“I want students to know police officers,” he said. “This is a small community.”

Saccenti, a father of three with another child on the way, lives just a couple blocks off campus and is focused on building relationships with students through a range of new programs oriented around community-based policing.

One of the department’s newest programs will assign each officer to a campus residence hall where they will have to spend time during their shift.

Furman has 15 officers so Saccenti said he’s hoping that the new initiative will ensure that each students knows at least one officer.

“Students should not feel fear when an officer is in a residence hall; they should feel safe,” he said.

Saccenti hopes to start the program in October but said he understands that there will be difficulties, particularly in North Village.

“They will not be knocking on doors, just walking around buildings,” he said. “The idea is that students will constantly see the same face. This is a positive thing. We’re not out there sniffing doors, listening for beer bottles.”

Saccenti comes to Furman after spending several years as a campus safety officer at similarly-sized universities, first Triune University and then Marietta College.

Saccenti graduated from Marion Technical College with an Associates Degree in Criminal Justice when he was seventeen and became a police officer as soon as he turned eighteen.

Ten years later he attended Tri-State University and earned a Bachelors degree in Psychology and Criminal Justice. He also a Masters in Criminal Justice from University of Cincinnati and is currently working on a Masters in Higher Education from Upper Iowa University.

Before this job came open, Saccenti said had never even heard of Furman University.

“I’ve been a little bit of everywhere,” he said. “But Furman was a big move for us.”

Saccenti heard about the Furman job opening from a good friend who is the Chief of Police at Columbia College.

One of the first programs Saccenti started this year was the “Officer 21 Award,” a prize named for the Furman officer best known among students for writing parking tickets.

Each month, the Furman police will select one student at random from among all students who have not received a ticket within the last 30 days. The winner gets a permit to parking in any university lot for the month but with the stipulation that they must still abide by the ten minute parking and handicapped parking signs.

Rachel Sease, a senior who has never received a ticket at Furman, was the first winner of the new award.

Saccenti is also planning to upgrade the ticketing system so that students will receive an email notification when they get a ticket. The email would include a photo of the violation and would allow students to pay or appeal their ticket online.

The new system would also allow students to register for parking passes and print out a temporary permit online.

Saccenti said the University Police are locked into a contract with another ticketing system through the end of this year but that he hopes to start the new system next year.

The campus shuttle is also set to receive improvements. Saccenti said many students don’t know Furman has a shuttle that runs from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. every night to transport students around campus and that he wants to make the shuttle more appealing by nicknaming it.

He said he also wants to install televisions inside to play music and safety videos and to enlist the art department to design a new look for the vehicle.

Even the crime briefs are up for revision under Saccenti’s watch. The crime briefs, which have long been published in The Paladin, will soon be listed on the department’s webpage with a map that plots where the incidents are happening.

For all Saccenti’s plans, the new police chief said one of his main goals is still to get to know Furman and the university community better.

“My goal is to get to know students,” he said. “I try to eat in the DH as often as I can.”