As one of the three female Public Safety officers on campus, not many expected Officer Marcy Gosselin to pursue a career in police work.
“I learned that a lot of people didn’t expect me to become a police officer one, because of the way I looked and two, because I’m not this big, huge, tall female,” Gosselin said.
After attending Castleton State College and working in schools with emotional behavior students, Gosselin decided to make the switch to becoming an officer. Before working at the College, she did police work in the town of Middlebury for five years. However, to become a full-time officer, she would have had to go to the police academy for sixteen weeks and live there, which Gosselin ultimately decided against because of her three daughters.
Gosselin is now entering her third year working as an officer for the college. She expresses a strong desire in wanting to know the students on a more personal level.
“I love working the night shift. The eight p.m. to four a.m. is great because I get to meet the students, versus the three to 11 shifts,” Gosselin said. “I also want to know them on a personal level, so if something isn’t looking right towards them on a shift, I can approach them and ask what’s going on.”
When she is not patrolling the north or south side of campus five nights a week, Gosselin likes to stay in shape for the job.
“It’s [hobbies] pretty much geared towards police stuff just because of the physical training I had to go through, so I like to work out a lot,” she said.
Officers must first complete basic training in order to be eligible for a job as an public safety officer.
“You had to take the military P.T. test to qualify, which is doing so many sit-ups and push-ups per minute. You had to run a mile-and-a-half in a certain amount of time.”
Despite the intensity of training and staying in shape, Gosselin does not consider that the hardest part of her job.
“The worst thing about this position is confronting some of the harder decisions to make as a Public Safety officer with a student. Maybe the student is not in the best mind-state to understand why we’re doing what we’re doing,” she said.
Overall, Gosselin wants the students to know that she is here to keep them safe, not to ruin their fun.
“I actually like all of the students here. Even the ones who have given me a rough time,” Gosselin said. “I don’t take anything personally. I mean, there’s got to be some reason why they’re acting like that.”
Right now, working for Public Safety fits well with her schedule, giving her two nights a week off for her family. In the future, Gosselin is interested in working as a private investigator, which provides the opportunity to work for yourself and have flexible work hours. But for now, Gosselin likes where she is.
“I believe that I’m probably going to do this for awhile. I’m pretty content right now.”
Getting to Know: Officer Marcy
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