Provided with a uniform, baton, handcuffs, and 16 weeks of training, the members of the unit under Auxiliary Captain Camilo Francione patrol the streets and parks of West Harlem and Morningside Heights. Save for their distinctive star-shaped badge and lack of firearms, the force looks and acts like the real deal. The point of the program, according to Denning, is to provide “omnipresence” in the neighborhood, deterring crime and freeing other officers to respond to urgent calls.
Since 2004, nearly a third of the new auxiliaries from northern Manhattan have been assigned to the 26th. Jason Novick, CC ’08, is one of them.
Walking up to his room on the third floor of the Sigma Phi Epsilon brownstone, Novick did not flinch as a frat brother opened a door on the second floor, inundating the hallway with the conspicuous smell of pot. Novick is just like any other Ivy League student—the stars and stripes decorate his wall, and a ticket stub from Yankee Stadium is taped to his desk. Next to the ticket is his badge, a reminder that he is technically a police officer.
“The crew team calls me ‘the cop,’” he said. Hesitating, he added, “Most students ... don’t really like cops.”
Sig Eps smoke pot? At Columbia? I'm Shocked! Shocked, I say!
