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2003 Administrative Excellence Award
Detective Sergeant Dave Sumner, University of South Alabama
 The
University of South Alabama hired Sgt Sumner in 1993 as a student employee.
Since that time, Sgt Sumner has rapidly progressed through the ranks
to his current position as Detective Sergeant, receiving his promotion
in September 2001. Sgt. Sumner has had campus law enforcement articles
published in the Campus Law Enforcement Journal, College Planning and
Management and Campus Security Report.
After investigating many cases
of domestic violence this past year, Sgt. Sumner began to note a correlation
between incidents involving relationship problems and the number of
other offenses, i.e. physical assault, sexual assault, harassing communications,
vandalism, theft, etc. Using problem oriented policing (POP) strategies;
he discovered that domestic –related problems experienced on campus
resulted in an average of 5.5 police responses and reports over a period
of time that corresponded with the presence of one or both disputing
parties. For example, he reviewed 66 complaints from the previous year
that involved 12 different couples.
Sgt. Sumner noted that no
special actions were taken against any of the couples or individuals
that made up the 12 couples. After several months of research, he decided
to train the Housing Staff and Police Department Officers, concerning
early detection of problems brewing between the campus community members.
Once a couple having relationship problems was identified, an intervention
process was initiated to defuse the situation and explore alternatives
that the University Administration could utilize to separate and implement
disciplinary action, or referral for counseling. During this study,
twelve couples were again identified and intervention processes were
determined and initiated based on an assessment of the couples’ situation.
Of the 12 cases, six came to police attention as a result of harassment
complaints prior to physical violence and the other six related to domestic
violence calls. Of the 12 couples, each received some early intervention
and only one couple had to be dealt with for a second instance of domestic
violence.
At the conclusion of the year,
only 14 police reports compared to 66 reports from the previous year
were made. The department is continuing the program developed by Sergeant
Sumner. It is believed that early detection and intervention of persons
involved in domestic violence will reduce the number of campus police
responses and incidents of domestic violence and will improve the quality
of life for campus communities.
As a result of Sergeant Sumner’s
efforts, he will be applying to the United States Department of Justice
for a grant, which if awarded, will allow him to further develop the
Domestic Violence Reduction Program and take this program on the road
to share with other campuses and campus police agencies. The program
is also being explored by the Mobile County District Attorney’s Office
for possible implementation.
Sergeant Sumner is also a presenter at IACLEA’s 45th Annual Conference discussing his innovative
domestic violence process.
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