Bridgewater, Va..- The college hosted a Blue Light Special event in the KCC lobby with faculty, staff and students in attendance to celebrate Valentine’s Day with cookies and interact with the campus police officers. 

“The event was to show appreciation for the campus and Bridgewater Police Department with a lot of students enjoying chocolate covered strawberries and cookies,” said Chief of Campus Police Milton Franklin. 

The Blue Light Special was the most recent event sponsored by campus police this semester with previous events including having doughnuts, coloring in the Eagles Nest, offering hot chocolate at a petting zoo and hosting an open house and movie night. 

“The whole purpose of the blue light special is to express campus police as part of the community and to show students and employees that we are here for everyone at the college,” said Franklin. 

According to Franklin, the student-police relationship in Bridgewater is more relaxed compared to other colleges as students can informally engage and interact with the police officers, as other schools are more focused on policing. 

Franklin’s motto for himself as well as his staff relates to having a passion to serve the community. 

“It costs nothing to be kind, merciful and graceful and it costs everything when you’re not graceful,” said Franklin.

Elsewhere on campus, some students were in the spirit of Valentine’s Day while others treated it like a regular day and were not aware of the events in the KCC lobby.

“My experience with Valentine’s Day was that it just felt like a regular day. I didn’t pay attention to any of the events on campus but really just focused on hanging out with friends and playing video games,” said sophomore Redeat Kepete.

There were a few students who did celebrate Valentine’s Day and were aware of some of the things that were occurring during the day.

“On Valentine’s Day, I took my girl out to Longhorn Steakhouse and exchanged gifts. While I was on campus, I saw a lot of people passing out flowers and people giving gifts during clubs and stuff they are involved in,” said senior Viante Tucker.