Collegiate Times

Geof Allen has worked for Virginia Tech Police Department for ten years.

The President’s Award for Excellence recognizes those who make exceptional contributions to the university and show excellence in their job performance. Last year, Geof Allen, who works as a crime prevention specialist for the Virginia Tech Police Department, received this award.

Allen has been a member of the Tech Police Department for 10 years. He began his career as a dispatcher, worked his way up to officer and then landed his current position as Crime Prevention Specialist. He currently works in the Community Outreach Unit, a division that consists of only Allen himself.

“It’s a weird job because what Crime Division Specialist really means is I do statistics and analysis,” Allen said. “I study crime by day of the week, time of the day, by month, by year, by semester, by national crime versus state versus Virginia Tech. I try to detect trends, changes, that kind of stuff.”

Allen also works with the Specialized Patrol Unit to predict when there will be sharper rises in crime on campus. For example, in October 2009, there were 39 more incidents compared to the previousOctober because there were 39 arrests at the Thursday night football game. There were no Thursday night games last year.

“Our crime is crazy easy to predict,” Allen said, “which is kind of interesting after you’ve done it for a couple years because you get the hang of it really quick.”

The second part of Allen’s job is crime prevention. He completes security surveys of buildings, light surveys and landscape surveys. This is how he reacts to the crime analysis itself.

For example, Allen works with the foot patrol when crime is about to rise. One of the predictable periods is during exam time. This period finds the foot patrol spending more time near and in the library, Torgersen Bridge and where more students are hanging out.

“What happens is just lack of awareness. You’re preparing to leave, you’re preparing for exams, so you’re falling asleep in study lounges and you’re leaving your laptop or your door is unlocked the whole time,” Allen said. “You’re in the study lounge so your books are going to be stolen like crazy. So, what we’ll do is we’ll study the crime again and the Specialized Patrol Unit will actually go out and remind people that their stuff is abandoned.”

Allen believes his job is to remind everybody to pay attention because students believe that 99 percent of the time, nothing is going to happen to them.

“Once you get used to that and you feel safe, you stop paying attention,” Allen said.

“That’s what happens to students. You get real focused on classes. You get real focused in on what you’re doing. You don’t pay attention.”

Operations manager Vincent Houston works with Allen as a liaison when Allen is doing operations or utilizing patrol officers in the programs he is involved in. Houston believes that one of Allen’s best qualities is his ability to make students more aware of potential risks.

“Geof has a unique way of getting our students involved with what most students at a college age may think, ‘Things don’t affect me, safety and security don’t really affect me,’” Houston said. “Geof brings a unique way of getting that message out and how that can make a difference in the safety of our community by the programs he does and getting our students involved in all those aspects.”

The last part of crime prevention is public relations, which is why the unit is called Community Outreach. This includes presentations, programs and the Web site.

Houston believes that communicating with the students plays a large role in safety.

“His part he plays is very important because he has that way of communicating to the students that keeps their interest, keeps the program going and developing new ways of networking with our students about safety and security,” Houston said.

Gene Deisinger, deputy chief of police and director of threat management services, works closely with Allen. He also feels that Allen’s communication with the community is important.

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