By Jason Ethridge
The Scene staff
A well-known figure at Forest Park has bid farewell.
Earlier this month, police Lt. Terri Buford was transferred to the Meramec campus of St. Louis Community College. She also will be protecting and serving students, faculty and staff on the Wildwood campus and at South County Educational Center.
“I’m going to miss that closeness I feel with people at Forest Park,” Buford said, admitting that she’s a little “melancholy” about leaving the campus. “When you see someone every day or every other day, you can say, ‘Hey, how are you doing?’ with a smile.”
But Buford also is excited about the challenges that change will bring.
“I’ve never been there before,” she said. “It will be new land to conquer.”
Buford isn’t the only STLCC lieutenant to be moved to a different campus this month. She’s replacing Lt. Bill Ozmec, who took over for Lt. David Berryman at Florissant Valley. Berryman now is head of campus police at Forest Park, commanding a total of 12 officers.
The idea is to keep the lieutenants “well-rounded,” Buford said. “We are one district. It is pertinent that the commanders know how each campus operates. We need to have a world view of everything, not just, ‘This is my little backyard.’”
Berryman has been a police officer for 29 years. He served 18 years with University City Police Department before making his way to STLCC.
Berryman learned about his new assign ment at Forest Park a few weeks ago.
“I didn’t know there would be a transition,” he said. “The upper command decided it was time for a change in leadership around the various campuses.”
Berryman echoed Buford’s sentiments about the importance of having police officers who serve the entire district instead of being tied to one campus.
“We go by the one-college theory,” he said. “The police departments at each campus work in unison.”
The idea of transitioning between posts periodically is a common one at all police departments, according to Officer Charles “Cliff” Kierstead, who is stationed at Forest Park.
“People come and go,” he said. “It’s just the rotation.”
Kierstead has served under Buford since transferring from Meramec to Forest Park two years ago. He said he will miss her, but he expects to see her around.
“We seem to be moving more and more to a district police department,” Kierstead said. “We used to have our own individual ‘patches’ for each of the three main campuses, but several years ago, we went to the one St. Louis Community College district.”
STLCC also has consolidated its sports teams under the mascot name the Archers and made other changes to promote unity.
Berryman said he is looking forward to learning the “ins and outs” of his new position at Forest Park.
“There are different nuances in the different police departments at each campus, and I just want the opportunity to learn what those nuances are here. Then I’ll be able to put my own footprint, my own fingerprint, on things, so to speak. I know that I’m going to enjoy being here.”