The Safety Escorts program will expand its nighttime schedule by two hours, but will eliminate its Student Patrol Officers next semester, according to Capt. Jon Barnwell of Campus Police.

“We’ll be enhancing the safety escort,” he said. “Budd security will be handling that.”

Barnwell said the spring hours, which go into effect Jan. 6, will run 6:30 p.m. to 4:30 a.m.

Budd Security Group Safety Escorts currently runs vehicles, walking patrol officers and the D.H. Hill Library shuttle service from 8 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. every day, Barnwell said.

Student Patrol officers, hired by Campus Police to supplement after-hours safety efforts, however, will be cut from the budget to allow for the extended hours, according to Barnwell.

“We had to be cost effective,” he said. “We’ve had to phase out our student part, and that’s been the hardest part of all this.”

According to Barnwell, Campus Police and the Student Patrol officers have anticipated the program cut with trepidation.

“They knew that the jobs were going to be phased out, … but they hung in there to help the students and help the community,” he said.

Andrew Hostutler, junior in criminology and psychology, said he has worked as a Student Patrol officer for a little over a year and sought the position because he wanted experience with law enforcement.

“I think it’s really disappointing because State has had a long line of student patrols — something like at least 25 years,” he said. “Some of the officers on the force now started out as student patrols.”

Barnwell said his first encounter with Campus Police was as a Student Patrol officer.

Hostutler said the position allowed him to meet and network with higher-level officers, like Barnwell, and he will miss working with them next semester.

He said he will also miss providing his services to the campus community.

“Our main goal is to escort students around campus who are afraid to walk at night or feel unsafe for some reason,” he said. “We gave students a good opportunity to walk around campus safely.”

According to Hostutler, the student escorts eased some students’ apprehensions about calling for an escort.

“Part of the college life is a little bit of drinking,” he said, and thought students who did need to get across campus after drinking seemed more comfortable walking with a fellow student.

Hostutler said that this is the ultimate goal of Student Patrol Officers — to ensure students are getting around campus safely.

As for next semester, Hostutler hopes to find a job working in security or law enforcement.

“Me and the other guys who are getting laid off are looking for other security guard jobs,” he said.

And, Hostutler said, there is a silver lining to the lay-offs.

“It brings new horizon for us to learn [at new jobs],” he said.

In addition to escort services, Campus Police will partner with Transportation to streamline Werewolf services, Barnwell said.

“Transportation asked for [the records of where safety escorts have been sent] to see how they could improve the nighttime busses,” he said.

But Budd escort services will operate the same way they have in the past, according to Barnwell.

“You just call our general number — 515-3000 — and request an escort,” he said.