NEW RADFORD OFFICER AIMS TO SMOOTH FEATHERS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, January 26, 1992                   TAG: 9201270177
SECTION: NEW RIVER VALLEY ECONOMY                    PAGE: 19   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Joe Tennis
DATELINE: RADFORD                                LENGTH: Medium
NEW RADFORD OFFICER AIMS TO SMOOTH FEATHERS
Jon Cromer is hoping to help improve relations between Radford police and Radford University students.
The 22-year-old joined the Radford police just a few weeks after graduating from Radford in December 1990 with a degree in criminal justice.
Now, he says he can see the always-tense relations between students and police from both sides.
It all boils down to a simple matter of perception, Cromer said. Police may see only college students who are causing disturbance - and, likewise, college students may know a police officer only as the bad guy with the badge who's busting up a party.
"My message is that people at the college aren't bad, and the people at the Police Department aren't bad," he said.
Cromer lives in Radford with his wife, Amy, and makes about $18,300 a year.
The Augusta County native decided to be a police officer while he was in high school. He spent his college years working at Radford Community Hospital and volunteering as a firefighter. He also studied sign language, sociology and psychology.
Now, he's just happy to use what he knows. "It's nice to be able to learn something and build a gap between people who need help," he said.
Still, he's unhappy when he knows he can't help. Recent economic conditions have made his job "frustrating," he said.
Often, Cromer sees people in need of counseling; but social services agencies are so strapped for money and personnel they can offer little, if any, help, he said.
"That's one place we're feeling it. It's not being able to provide services for people in need."

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB