Neil Lozier
Neil Lozier began his career with MHC’s Department of Public Safety in February
1999 as a part-time public service officer. He was promoted in August 1999 to
full-time dispatcher and in the summer of 2000 to full-time officer, with responsibility
for campus patrol, investigations, reports, first aid, and “details,” such as
concerts and events. He began full-time academy training in New Braintree “June
26 at exactly zero nine zero zero hours.” The fourteen weeks of military-style
discipline and training were difficult, but Lozier had under his belt a bachelor’s
degree in criminal justice from Westfield State College, a five-month program
of Saturday classes at the reserve police academy in Agawam, and certification
as an instructor for rape aggression defense. Although he encountered a lot
of new material at the academy, Lozier found himself familiar with several parts
of the curriculum, including field sobriety and “club drugs,” and he credits
his preparedness to MHC’s “proactive approach” to training.
“I’ve been free for many weeks
now, but I still make square hospital corners on my bed,” jokes Lozier, who
graduated from the academy in September and is happy to be back to his 11 pm–7
am shift at Mount Holyoke. “The people I work with are really, really good,”
he said, “and we serve a great population that appreciates seeing us on campus.”
In addition to his campus patrol and other officer duties, Lozier recruits and
trains MHC’s public service officers and generally pitches in wherever help
is needed.
Jeffrey Wojcik
Jeffrey Wojcik took a similar path, starting at Mount Holyoke in May 1998 as
a part-time public service officer while pursuing an associate’s degree in criminal
justice at Holyoke Community College. He was promoted to full-time dispatcher
in February 1999, completed his reserve police academy training that same year,
and became a full-time officer in January 2000. Although he had achieved his
lifelong goal of doing police work, he went right on to full-time police academy
training in February. He finished in June with the honor graduate award for
best overall performance. The success isn’t surprising for this ten-year military
reservist, who is accustomed to hard work and self-discipline in his roles as
mechanic and driver with the 104th Tactical Fighter Group at Westfield’s Barnes
Air National Guard Base. But Wojcik is modest when talking about his award,
careful to note that he ranked second in each of the award’s two categories,
academics and physical fitness.
As an MHC officer, Wojcik is prepared
to respond to emergency calls and make arrests on campus, but his goal, he says,
is to avoid that kind of action by maintaining a safe campus through diligent
patrol and safety training. Like Lozier, Wojcik is certified in bike patrol,
which allows him to see and hear a lot more than cruiser patrol. He also works
with campus fire marshal Mike Buckley, the residence hall safety captains, and
the South Hadley Fire Department to coordinate MHC’s fire-safety program.
Amy Buckley
Amy Buckley has also followed a career path of regular promotion and success
at Mount Holyoke. She started at the College in 1997, working as part-time public
service officer as she completed a criminal justice degree at Holyoke Community
College, a stint at the reserve police academy in Agawam, and training as a
rape aggression defense instructor. She was quickly promoted to reserve officer/dispatcher,
then to full-time officer.
Like Lozier and Wojcik, Buckley
jumped at the chance to attend New Braintree’s police academy, where she trained
alongside state police recruits. “I remember lunch formation one day, when fifteen
troopers yelled in my face for twenty-five minutes because I was walking an
inch too close to them on a catwalk,” said Buckley. But despite the intense
environment of her class of thirty-two, the academy was a positive step toward
achieving a childhood dream of doing police work. “One of my uncles is a police
chief in the Boston area; another is a captain at Springfield College. It’s
a perfect job for me, too,” she said. Buckley graduated last fall with the award
for top academic performance.
In addition to full-time officer
duties, Buckley is responsible for training drivers of MHC’s van fleet and for
leading Mount Holyoke’s sexual-assault investigation program. Helping students
prevent accidents and avoid sexual assault are some of the “positive aspects”
of police work, “the parts about helping people,” that Buckley says attracted
her to the field in the first place.
