Officer Mike Bires talks to freshmen Gabriela Manocchio and Caroline Cater about changes on campus.
Before he became APU’s new university resource officer, Mike Bires worked as a patrol officer, SWAT officer, bike patrol officer, and corrections officer. Bires was also a field training officer, training recruits who have just been hired out of the academy. Along with his law enforcement work, Bires was also in the Army for four years and fought in Panama during the U.S. invasion in 1989.
The URO program started Aug. 30 and on Bires’ very first day, he arrested a trespasser. Bires said the trespasser had already been warned several times to stay off the property and had been arrested twice before; one time, he was trying to steal the turtles from the pond in the Wynn Academic Center on East Campus.
In addition to being able to ensure order on campus, Bires’ other goals include getting to know the faculty, staff and student body of APU both for the safety of the school and to become a part of the community.
“It’s all about learning the culture of APU, how students and staff operate,” Bires said. “Getting to know the character of the students, their attire, what they carry. … If no students ever carried books and then I saw someone carrying a book, that would definitely draw my attention.”
Bires has been an active part of the community since the beginning of the semester, serving ice cream and root beer floats to students during the New Student Mugging the first week of classes. Bires said his primary goal is the safety and protection of the students, faculty and staff of APU.
Bires said he enjoys his new position, as it allows him to make students feel safe and help others.
“My biggest shock in this position is how nice and accepting the student body has been to me, and I hope I have been to them,” Bires said.