As COVID-19 arrived in the United States, the population went into a frenzy and universities scrambled to send its students home and transfer all of its coursework online.

With thousands of students moving off campus in the wake of the pandemic, the Iowa State University Police Department has made many changes in their routine.

Michael Newton, the Iowa State police chief, said the biggest change that came with the pandemic was the level of boredom.

“Ever since this whole thing, our calls have dropped dramatically,” he laughed.

Newton described an empty campus and quiet office space. He said it is definitely different from the usual flow.

With all the newfound time, Newton said a lot of the officers are catching up on training videos or foot patrolling campus.

“I mean, there’s hardly anybody around, so we can patrol the facilities on foot,” he said.

Several services offered by the ISU PD have been suspended due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Some of these include fingerprinting and ride alongs. Several more changes have been made to prevent the spread of the virus on campus.

“We have our officers wear personal protective equipment (PPE) and we try to minimize face-to-face interactions altogether,” Newton said.

He said the ISU PD had a fair supply of PPE before the outbreak, but they also work with other organizations to make sure their officers remain safe.

In addition to wearing PPE, Newton said the department is trying to minimize traffic incidents.

“Of course we’ll step in if someone is going to harm another or themselves, but we are really trying not to have face-to-face interaction,” Newton said.