Prior to the creation of the University Hospital Public Authority in 1996, UW-Madison provided all police as well as security services to the UW Hospital. When the Authority was formed, the University Police Department continued to provide these services. In late 2005, the Authority’s C.E.O. decided that the Authority should control its own security.
During the first months of 2006, joint planning for this transition began. While a synergistic security and police work force for the hospital and the adjacent academic health sciences facilities had been envisioned, the focus shifted to providing comprehensive security for the academic portion of the Clinical Sciences Center, the Health Sciences Learning Center, the Pharmacy building, the Waisman Center, all of the area’s parking structures, and the work site for the Instructional Research Complex.
The University Police Department will continue to provide security communications services, as well as comprehensive police services to the Authority. That the hospital offered to transfer all of the officers and supervisors assigned to the hospital security operation to their control as an intact unit provided a testament to the quality of the hospital security department and those who managed it.
The police management staff members who had previously handled security management as part of their duties assisted with planning the operations and the budget for the services the Department would continue to provide. They prepared hospital security for the transition, and assisted in the hiring process for a Security Director employed by the hospital. The formal transition was completed in July, whereupon Captain Steve Rogers, Lieutenant Joseph Hornbeck, Sergeant Tamara Kowalski, Supervisor Shahida Pasha, and Supervisor William VanderBloemen moved on to new assignments at the Department.
Police Sergeant John Lind and Security Supervisor Mark Golbach were tasked with overseeing the Department’s new Health Sciences security unit, comprising officers and police who provide specialized services to the growing UW Health Sciences Complex.
Health Sciences Security Officers
The Health Sciences Complex, now that University Hospital has assumed security responsibilities for their clinical functions, consists of a number of buildings, parking structures and parking lots on the west end of campus. Security services are provided for the Rennebohm Hall (School of Pharmacy); the Health Sciences Learning Center with the School of Medicine and Public Health offices, the Ebling Library, classroom facilities, and a branch of the University Bookstore; Waisman Mental Retardation and Human Development Center including the Waisman Early Childhood Program which teaches some of the youngest students on the UW campus; and the Max Kade Institute, which specializes in research and outreach related to German-American history, located in a historically significant stone house at 901 University Bay Drive.
In addition, security officers assigned to the Health Sciences Complex provide security services to approximately twenty percent of the Clinical Sciences Center which houses the School of Nursing and Medical School research facilities. They also respond to requests for service from the many Medical School faculty members whose offices are in the Clinical Sciences Center.
The Interdisciplinary Research Complex, a facility designed to enable scientists from diverse disciplines to interact, is under construction at the north end of the Clinical Science Center. This very large facility will incorporate many functions that will require special security attention.
Finally, service is also provided to a number of surface parking areas, two large parking structures, as well as two parking facilities incorporated into the Health Sciences Learning Center and the American Family Children’s Hospital, also under construction. During this transition period a sergeant and a security supervisor have been assigned full-time to the Health Sciences Complex. The sergeant has also assumed the role of liaison between the Hospital’s security team and the University Police Department. Other security officers have been assigned to be trained and to work at the Health Sciences Complex as staffing permits. In the near future there will be a total of three Health Sciences security officer 3’s and three Health Sciences security officer lead workers assigned full time to the Health Sciences Unit.
The adjustment to the new division of responsibilities between Hospital Security and Health Sciences Complex Security has gone well. The Department has been able to provide a full range of security services to the occupants of the buildings under their jurisdiction as well as respond to periodic requests for assistance from the University Hospital.
One of the many challenges the Health Sciences Unit needed to meet was installing access card production and maintenance equipment and training officers in its use. All of the officers who work in the Unit on a regular basis have become reasonably adept in these skills in a very short time. These same officers have had to learn two different access control systems. All indications suggest that building managers and other building occupants are pleased with the increased level of police and security services already being provided by the Department. As the number of security officers assigned to the Complex increases it is believed the quality of service will continue to improve.
Ebling Library After Hours Access Form (.doc)
Ebling Library After Hours Access Form (.htm)
Health Sciences Complex Construction
People say that construction never stops in the west campus. If renovation and remodeling are included, this is undoubtedly true.
The new and expanded Emergency Department began operations while the American Family Children’s Hospital reached its full height and was nearly enclosed by the end of the year. With the division of responsibility, Hospital security officers will be responsible for providing security services within the Children’s Hospital. The Health Sciences officers of the University Police Department will respond to calls for service in the parking ramp below the Children’s Hospital. A portion of the ramp opened prior to the completion of the building in order to provide access to and parking for the new Emergency Department.
The Interdisciplinary Research Complex progressed from a very large hole in the ground to a skeletal four story structure during the year. Construction required the temporary removal of the Boxer Connector between the Health Sciences Learning Center and the Clinical Science Center. Occupants of both buildings have had to make due with a corrugated metal tunnel in the meantime.
Still to come is a major upgrade to the utility delivery system in the Health Sciences campus. Plans are in place to tear up roadways and divert traffic in the area over the next two years. There should be plenty to keep the Security Unit busy.
