Featured this month in our Security Officer Spotlight is Joseph Jones, who has been working at the University for two years.

Jones has been posted at the University of Maryland Bio Park for about seven months. He enjoys taking part in securing that part of the campus with his partner, Kierra Alsup, while also mentoring youths in the Police Athletic/Activities League (PAL) program and providing assistance to the homeless community, whether money or food, if needed.

Q&A with Police Officer Joseph Jones

1. What is the most rewarding aspect of your career?
   • I hadn’t really found a rewarding aspect of my job until Security Officer Alsup and I began taking part in mentoring the youths in the PAL program.
2. What made you decide to go into law enforcement?
   • I found myself looking at police officers as bullies in my neighborhood while growing up because you never really see their human side but more so the uniform itself. That is until I began working with the UMB police through YouthWorks, and I began to get to know the men behind the uniforms and what their jobs really meant to them.
3. What is your greatest achievement on the job?
   • My biggest accomplishments would be those times I was able to prevent people from harassing or taking advantage of those whom they see as weak or vulnerable.
4. What makes for a great day on the job?
   • My best days at work usually consist of me witnessing the youths and the residents of the Lexington Terrace community interacting with the UMB community as neighbors and as one community as a whole.
5. Knowing your job can get stressful, how do you maintain your sanity?
   • On my most stressful days at work, to stay sane, I try to keep in mind the “bigger picture,” which is that everything we’re doing is for a good cause and an even greater outcome in the end.
6. Have you had any mentors in your career? If so, how have they helped?
   • Yes, I do have people who I consider as mentors at my job, and they’ve been in my corner since I was working for YouthWorks. They’ve helped me gain a new perspective on life itself.
7. Where do you see yourself in five to 10 years?
   • I can see myself running my very own “Big Brother” program for troubled youths.