Q&A: University of South Florida police Sgt. Mike Klingebiel

Sgt. Mike Klingebiel maintains law and order in a small city of 43,000 people -- the USF campus.

But unlike other cities, there is little violent crime in Klingebiel's patrol area. Instead, he and other USF officers must cope with political protests, stolen goods and drunken college students.

Klingebiel talked recently with St. Petersburg Times staff writer Tamara Lush about fraternities, Bulls football and Sami Al-Arian.

Here are excerpts:

How long have you been a police officer here?

Since 1989. I'm in my 14th year here. I was a student here at USF. I came down to Tampa in 1985.

I'm a very young 36. I met my wife at USF over in Argos Cafeteria, and we were married in Hunter's Green. USF, another thing it means is, You Stay Forever. I've been part of the university family for quite some time.

What made you want to be a police officer?

I wanted to be a police officer probably since I was in high school. I got my first taste of it through an officer visiting school and them putting us through some role playing and traffic stops. That was in New York.

It's just very interesting work. I didn't think I had the talent to be an engineer or doctor, and I didn't have interests in those areas, and science was not my strong suit. (Police work) just seemed to click.

I came to USF, got my BA in criminology. I was working here as a student in records and the chief asked me if I wanted to go through the (police) academy, and he put me through.

What is the wildest thing you've experienced as a police officer at USF?

The wildest thing? It's actually of a serious nature.

We had a murder that occurred back in 1994 and that took place right outside the special events center, the same time we had (Luciano) Pavarotti over at the Sun Dome. That was just letting out, so we had all that congestion plus there was the homicide, which just occurred.

There was a patron of the concert at the special events center, and it was a domestic situation -- boyfriend-girlfriend. They were breaking up, and she was leaving the concert and made it over to the west side of what was back then Alpha Hall, and as she walked, the boyfriend approached and just shot her. Right there. And then the pandemonium ensued.

That was eye-opening. That was a taste of what other agencies experience regularly. And fortunately, we don't have that occurring here regularly.

But our officers have to be able to respond to these situations, so it's important that we do have a talented pool of individuals working here. Because you go from working a concert to protecting a homicide scene.

How does being a university officer differ from being a city police officer?

There are no walls around this campus. We have a student population of around 35,000, and we have an employee population of about 7,000 to 8,000. It's a small city. We have physical facilities, banks, hospitals, everything that a city would have.

Where we're different, and the stats will bear this out, is that we don't have the crime that the municipalities experience and the surrounding area experiences.

By crime, we have theft and property crimes, but we don't have the violence, fortunately. We don't have to experience those situations such as that murder, thankfully, too often. But we have to be prepared to respond to those things.

What's the newest and biggest crime trend here?

The population here on campus is changing. We're going from a commuter school to more residential. Our residential population is doubling, we're bringing the fraternities on campus, we now have the athletes living here on campus and we're having married housing. So we're going to be dealing with the family situations, domestic situations, just like our brothers and sisters outside of USF.

It used to be that we used the summer to catch up, get our stats in order, take a breath and get ready for the fall. We don't have that luxury anymore. We're constantly going.

We just picked up the Embassy Suites as part of our jurisdiction. So that whole area out there, it's all new to us. We've never had a hotel, so we have 600 beds plus crimes that are unique to hotels that we have to deal with.

How much does alcohol play a part in the crimes you investigate?

Underage possession, we deal with that a lot. We refer all of those arrestees to student affairs. They then have to go through some counseling.

Basically, we want to make sure these young adults understand, is this social drinking or is this the beginning of a problem? So there's some intervention there. We don't just arrest and prosecute.

But alcohol does play a role in our crimes of violence, occasionally. Anyone who is under the age of 21 who is suspected of DUI, we do a traffic stop. If we determine through a Breathalzyer that they do have some alcohol and they're under 21, there is no reason they should have alcohol. Then they are issued a citation.

That goes to DHSMV (state motor vehicles department) and there's an administrative hearing, and they basically determine whether they're going to suspend that person's right to drive.

Would you say that fraternities cause campus police a lot of problems?

We don't know yet. (Laughs). Unlike other universities, our fraternities are not on campus. That will be changing.

We do research with the sheriff's office and Tampa police, depending upon where these entities are, to see if there are problems. We have a liaison, an officer, dedicated to all of the fraternities, sororities and groups affiliated with the university. If there are problems, then this person goes out and checks on them.

When will you be getting fraternities on campus?

It all depends when they finish the housing across the street.

How worried are you about campus security, given the Sami Al-Arian case?

It's been a concern post 9/11. We're unique in that we've had to deal with this since 1995. We've been sensitive to this whole entire issue.

We were concerned post The O'Reilly Factor, and the response that we were receiving. We didn't know how that was actually going to play out -- were people going to escalate their opinions. Now we're in a post Al-Arian era.

Yes, we're still sensitive, and we're still advising everyone that a heightened sense of awareness is the best practice.

I know the university has received several editorials for and against (Al-Arian's) termination. We're sensitive -- we try to read in between the lines and make determinations; anything we get we try to include the community in.

Have you had any problems with the protesters who have supported or opposed Al-Arian's firing?

We've actually been working with all of the known organizations when they want to have a protest out there. We really try to assist them in that First Amendment right and ensure that its a safe thing to do and its not disruptive to the educational process.

Do you think there are terrorists at USF?

That I wouldn't know. I wouldn't know.

What do you worry about more as a USF officer -- the prospect of terrorists or the reality of fraternities on campus?

Wow. You're running the gamut there.

I think in this day and age you really have to be aware of all of your surroundings, regardless of the group that you're talking about. There's probably some things we have to bone up on in terms of fraternal organizations on campus, but I wouldn't lump that kind of study that we need to do into anything that law enforcement needs to combat terrorism.

We're probably more taxed with the expanding campus and keeping a hold on that and our ability to respond.

Okay, turning to the personal. What do you do in your spare time?

I'm thrilled to death that we have football. I love (Bulls) football. I've worked every game but one.

Why did you miss that one?

That was the first game ever, and for whatever reason, I wasn't selected. Every other game, I've been a part of. Behind the scenes. One day, I hope to experience it from the stands.

Your last name. Where does it come from, and what does it mean?

I'm told it means "ringing ax." It's European, German descent. An ax. I have no idea, really.

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