FMU officer views campus policing as his calling

FLORENCE — Alan Sayre doesn’t view his position as a police officer as a job, but as a calling.

Sayre, a Francis Marion University police officer, said it’s likely what led to him being recognized by the S.C. Commission on Higher Education as the Campus Safety Officer of the Year.

He knows he has a unique way of doing his job, he said, but he still was surprised to have received the award.

“It’s a mission,” Sayre said. “I come to work (and) it’s more than just a job, it’s a lifestyle, it’s a public service.”

The 25-year-old officer said he’s well suited to patrol the campus, which can be likened to a small city with a population of mostly 17- to 25-year-olds.

Sayre said he knows what it’s like to live on a college campus and has age in common with many of the coeds.

When the members of the public feel they have something in common with an officer, he said, they tend to respect that person a little more.

“A university is a completely different world,” he said. “Our busiest time is from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. When all the other small towns turn off the street lights and roll up the sidewalks at 10 p.m., ours are just coming on.”

College students come out for parties, late-night study sessions and food, said Sayre, who is a working on a criminal justice degree at FMU.

Sayre also is a member of the university’s alcohol education program and the Alcohol Enforcement Team.

FMU Campus Police Chief Richard Austin said Sayre is an energetic officer who goes above and beyond the call of duty.

“His patrol style is aggressive, but tempered by his ability to interact with the public in a way that some more seasoned officers may find difficult to emulate,” Austin said. “(He) has a knack for dealing with members of the off-campus community as well as faculty, staff and students.”

Before joining the FMU police force in 2006, Sayre was a Florence County E-911 dispatcher.

Being a police officer is much less stressful than being a dispatcher, he said, but he still uses the skills he learned at his former job.

“Having to talk with people through 911, I’ve always been of the mentality that it doesn’t matter who you are, I talk to you like a person,” Sayre said. “Being a police officer doesn’t make me any different than you. I don’t treat people like the bad guy instantly. I treat them like people. I find that gets me farther.”

Though he’s an award recipient who has worked successfully as a dispatcher and a police officer, Sayre said he still knows a little something about failure.

“I tried the Florence city (police department), but Florence city rejected me,” Sayre said. “I did not pass one of the steps in their process.”

Sayre said he also tried to be a sheriff’s deputy, but was turned down because someone told him they didn’t hire dispatchers as officers.

He was a volunteer dispatcher for FMU, which eventually led to him landing a position in the 12-member department.

Sayre said he’s experienced a great deal for his age, but he doesn’t have much advice for any young person aspiring to follow his lead.

“Well, there’s no one piece of advice I could give anyone personally,” he said. “Campus law enforcement requires a special person. You have have to have a different mentality: while you are an enforcer, you are an educator yourself.”