NC State University Police officers serve hot dogs and drinks at an outreach event hosted on the Brickyard on Wednesday afternoon." />
Jonathan Carter
NC State University Police officers serve hot dogs and drinks at an outreach event hosted on the Brickyard on Wednesday afternoon.
Hundreds of students gathered in the Brickyard Wednesday from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. to eat free hotdogs alongside the NC State University Police Department.
The department partnered with Campus Enterprises to put on this event, giving out free food, engraving students’ personal items and providing information about how to stay safe on campus. This is the first time the department has held an event like this.
“We are just giving back to the community that has always given to us,” said Major David Kelly of NC State Police.
Among the officers serving food to students was Chief of NC State Police Jack Moorman. He and other officers also talked about a number of programs available to students including the Rape Aggression Defense System (RAD).
RAD is a self-defense program for women that provides them with tactics in the event of a physical attack. The program involves a mock attacker so the student can practice striking and defense techniques in person.
Tucker Mentink, a junior studying mechanical engineering, remarked on how productive the event was in establishing a positive relationship between police officers and students.
“It’s a great way to get in contact with the students,” Mentink said.
Mentink described how important it was for the police department to showcase all of their resources because many students do not know that they exist. He also said that by hosting programs like this, those relationships would definitely improve and show the campus community that the police department is here to help.