Students concerned with leaving expensive stereos or computers in their rooms do not need to worry – the University Police Department will be on duty over winter break.

“We are on duty 24 hours a day seven days a week, for 365 days a year,” said University Police Department officer Art Mitchell.

“We have no break over the holiday break. It’s pretty dead around here.”

Activity is drastically down with only a few international students on campus for the three-week break. Very few professors work during the winter vacation weeks.

However, UPD still patrols the campus.

“We do security building checks of resident halls and academic halls; we check windows,” Mitchell said.

“During the day we don’t patrol the buildings because janitors are in there working.”

Mitchell, who has worked at Eastern for 14 years, doesn’t recall any wild occurrences over break. He said the south side of Lincoln Avenue turns into a ghost town for three weeks.

“We get called to back up Charleston Police more often than we call them to back us up,” Mitchell said. “We have a better rapport with the students.”

UPD has three shifts containing six to eight officers each. The shifts are 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. and 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.

“I’m not going anywhere, just staying at home,” Mitchell said about his vacation. “I’ll do what my wife tells me to do.”

Colin Mcauliffe is a photo editor and can be reached at 581-2812