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It was a Saturday on campus when David Sedmak, a Rice University police officer, heard "Officer down, officer down!" on his scanner: Two members of the Houston Police Department had been shot downtown. Sedmak rushed to the scene to help his fellow officers.

But Rice didn't see Sedmak as a hero. Instead, the university fired him, citing "dereliction of duty."

The university said in a statement that its officers often assist other law enforcement agencies when the need arises. But Sedmak erred, it said, by not informing the university police dispatcher about where he was.

"Sedmak left his post when only two other officers were on duty and failed to notify his supervisor of his whereabouts for nearly an hour, which could have endangered the safety of our students and campus," according to the university.

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Good luck to Rice getting a replacement that will be as good or better than this guy. They should be ashamed in how they have handled this.

They should have at the most, was to take him behind closed doors and give him a little lecture to let folks know what was up and go over University policy.

I thought we agreed no cops?

Hard to tell from the info in this story, but there might be more to it. I can think of a few scenarios where Rice U. might be justified.

CID1990 wrote:Hard to tell from the info in this story, but there might be more to it. I can think of a few scenarios where Rice U. might be justified.

"I will guard everything within the limits of my post and only quit my post when properly relieved"

citdog wrote:

CID1990 wrote:Hard to tell from the info in this story, but there might be more to it. I can think of a few scenarios where Rice U. might be justified.

"I will guard everything within the limits of my post and only quit my post when properly relieved"

He's a cop, not a soldier.

He should have called in that he was responding but other than that....

As the last cop told me when writing a ticket...."Rules is rules".....sorry, no sympathy....it's Houston, for crissakes...who cares...

I'm with Rice here, campus cop takes off on his own accord in pursuit of adrenaline buzz. I would bet he did not call in because he did not want to be told to stay put.

Wedgebuster wrote:I'm with Rice here, campus cop takes off on his own accord in pursuit of adrenaline buzz. I would bet he did not call in because he did not want to be told to stay put.

ding!ding!ding!

Wedgebuster wrote:I'm with Rice here, campus cop takes off on his own accord in pursuit of adrenaline buzz. I would bet he did not call in because he did not want to be told to stay put.

That's a likely scenario.

My question:

If this guy was a 17 year vet...and a former Galveston cop...why was he working "security detail" at Rice?

IMO, all University cops are just glorified security guards at the end of the day...

DSUrocks07 wrote:My question:

If this guy was a 17 year vet...and a former Galveston cop...why was he working "security detail" at Rice?

IMO, all University cops are just glorified security guards at the end of the day...

This.

/close

DSUrocks07 wrote:My question:

If this guy was a 17 year vet...and a former Galveston cop...why was he working "security detail" at Rice?

IMO, all University cops are just glorified security guards at the end of the day...

Some guys "retire" to that kind of job when they get older. It's boring, but quiet.

There's a little more to the story. In December, nearby University of Houston had a police officer get killed in a motor vehicle accident while responding to a call about an abduction at a Wendy's Restaurant near campus. She lost control and crashed into a tree. While not at Rice, I'm sure there was probably a review of the rules and procedures in the event of nearby assistance calls. It's coincidental, but the U of H officer who got killed was also from Galveston, which - as I'm sure many of your recall - got absolutely hammered by Hurricane Ike. It may be that the population in Galveston dropped, resulting in a corresponding drop in the number of police officers. The Rice gig probably pays well. It's a very selective admissions private school.

Parts of the area near Rice can be kinda dicey. Leaving your post for an hour without checking in probably rises to the level of being a termination offense.

And isn't it normal SOP for police officers to radio in response to say that you are responding to the call?

What was he doing sitting around listening to Houston police bands on the clock? Shouldn't be on call to his supervisors at RICE? Shouldn't his radio be set to Rice's internal security band?

As has been said, there are plenty of questions here.

DSUrocks07 wrote:And isn't it normal SOP for police officers to radio in response to say that you are responding to the call?

What was he doing sitting around listening to Houston police bands on the clock? Shouldn't be on call to his supervisors at RICE? Shouldn't his radio be set to Rice's internal security band?

As has been said, there are plenty of questions here.

Your Motorola can be set to multiple channels at once. Rice was probably his primary channel, surrounding jurisdictions secondary channels, assuming they had interoperability. Been 9+ years since I used a motorola everyday, but as I remember it, even if he had his radio turned to Houston PDs, if Rice was his primary, any traffic from Rice would come over Houston's.