“Why not be of service? Why not be helpful? It’s so easy. It doesn’t cost anything to be kind. Let’s be humans. Let’s be better.”
For Onondaga Community College Peace Officer Rich Yung, that philosophy has guided nearly two decades of work on campus. As the nation observes National Police Week May 10-16, Yung's work offers a powerful example of what policing can look like.
Yung has been here since the beginning. He arrived in 2007 as Campus Safety was being formed. Today, he is the last remaining original member of the team. “It’s kind of surreal when you think about it. Doing this was never the intention. It just kind of fell into place.”
A native of Herkimer, Yung’s path to campus policing was anything but direct. He earned degrees from Herkimer County Community College and SUNY Oswego where he studied English with the goal of becoming a college professor.
Instead, his early career included eight years in the Army Reserves, part-time security work at Herkimer Community College, and a few less-than-exciting months as a banking call center. “I knew I wasn’t cut out for that type of work. I couldn’t be behind a desk in a cubicle.”
The opportunity that changed everything came from Frank Lawrence, who had led Campus Safety at Herkimer Community College and was launching OCC’s program. “I knew he was trying to start things here. He reached out to me with details - he said I would go to the police academy, take a test, and hopefully it would work out. And I thought, ‘anything to get me out of the bank!’”
What followed became a career grounded in connection and care. “You graduate from the academy, then it’s almost like you relearn everything for the community. Everything here was all community-based, and we wanted to be of service.”
Advice from a fellow officer resonated with him - and is still foremost in his mind today. "He told me just because you have the title Peace Officer, you’re going to be wearing five different hats in a day. You could be a counselor, you could be helping someone find something, or you may find someone who really needs help. Things like writing tickets or arresting someone can be the furthest thing from your mind.”
Instead, he said, the Peace Officer role at OCC is rooted in humanity. “The job is really about being of service. Sometimes you see people at their worst, and you want to help them. It’s about being human, helping each other, and raising each other up. Not every day is going to be a home run. Let’s work on it and make each other better. The best part of the job is just chatting with people as humans.”
During National Police Week, Yung’s career offers a powerful reminder that Campus Safety at OCC all comes back to something simple. “Why not be of service?” he said. “Why not be helpful?”
