People of Central: Officer Joshua Chapman

Story and video by: Breanna Prince

Since 2019, Joshua Chapman has kept Central Michigan University students safe on campus. In the fall of 2021, he became one of the community police officers. Today he serves the east campus community. 

Chapman typically works from 4 p.m. to Midnight. To start his day, he goes to the police station to see if they need him to do anything on the east campus.

“Sometimes there’s students or staff that send emails to our police apartment that say we need someone to look into this and if it’s not a major emergency or concern, then I’ll go and take care of it as soon as I can,” he said. “Usually, I’ll go around and talk with a couple of students that are sitting in the lobby or desk, and it usually scares them which is funny.”

As a community police officer, Chapman’s goal is to watch students succeed. 

“I try to make a difference, whether that be a small interaction or saving someone’s life, not writing a ticket because they are having a bad day, or just different things to make a difference in someone’s life, he said.”

Chapman enjoys making connections with students to make them feel comfortable to talk with him about anything. 

“I like that I can make a connection with students in a way that hasn’t ever been done, in an unorthodox way,” he said. “I like meeting students on a positive note, an interaction that is not negative in a sense.”

Chapman said the police department treats their kids like their own kids.

“We do have our own kids that go here,” he said “We treat everybody the way we want our kids to be treated because they are our kids. So, if the police department has to enforce some force of law, it’s coming from the heart that we care about you.”