NJIT’s public safety department recently unveiled new challenge coins for students, faculty, and public safety department supervisors. The coins, designed by students and faculty alike, are to arrive on campus late next month. In fact, this new effort is known as COPPS, which stands for Community Oriented Policing and Problem Solving.
Challenge coins are emblems carried around by members of an organization. The emblems serve as a sentimental reminder of what the group strives to accomplish. In the case of public safety, they are to remind the officers about the purpose of the public safety office: to keep students safe.
Chief Marswilo envisioned the coins for officers years ago. “I saw them with my brother,” said the chief. “I was inspired by these coins.”
Lieutenant Mark Cyr was also a supporter of the coins. “It helps represent why students get involved in our initiatives.”
The coins are to be the first of a yearly release; new coins will be designed every year and distributed to the officers and public safety supervisors alike.
The coins for public safety officers and supervisors will be different. Coins for officers will be grey and silver, akin to the color of their badges. Supervisors will have gold colored coins, representing their badges as well. However, the coins share a similar side; one of the faces of the coin always depicts the mission of the public safety office. It symbolizes the unity of the office and the culture to make life for students better.
There are also coins for students. NJIT students designed their own emblem for their coin in a mass survey where they picked color, insignia, and mission. Marswilo plans to hold a public luncheon in December after the coins arrive, to highlight student achievement and recognize the students that have helped serve the NJIT community and kept people safe.
Marswilo and Cyr hope to have a showcase of the coins in the future. If the yearly release of the coins is confirmed and becomes routine, they are looking into making past coins collectible and show the history of the coins from year to year. However, this only applies to student coins, as department coins will remain the same every year, until the next major redesign.
Ultimately, the 200 student coins, 200 police coins, and 100 supervisor coins will hopefully all go towards persons worthy of the mission embedded on the emblem.
“We want this coin to be about limitlessness,” said Cyr. “This coin depicts a partnership with students and shows where we are all going.”
