More Penn State students are patrolling downtown for the State College Police Department through the new Downtown Safety Enhancement Program (DSEP) funded by borough property owners.

Student auxiliary officers from Penn State University Police began making rounds off campus Friday as part of a larger Downtown Improvement District (DID) initiative.

The students work part time for the university as dormitory security and traffic enforcement officers. They replaced private security personnel whom the DID released from their contracts in December, director Teresa Sparacino said.

State College police Cpl. Mark Argiro said the auxiliary officers are under the supervision of the department's night-watch supervisor and provide "extra eyes and ears" to full-time police.

The program is similar to the Highlands Neighborhood Watch Program, which was started in January and uses student interns to report incidents that they see while on patrol in exchange for university credit, Argiro said.

Bill Moerschbacher, university police supervisor, said the students patrol in their uniforms but are "unsworn officers," which means they have no arrest power. They are instructed to simply contact full-time State College police if they witness an incident.

Moerschbacher added that the program would not pull security away from campus, as many student officers have class conflicts that subtract from the maximum hours they are allowed to work.

"This would just be one more shift they could sign up for," Moershbacher said.

Sparacino said downtown needs a greater security presence during the peak hours of 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. to cut down on graffiti placed on area businesses and trash thrown on sidewalks as well as sexual assaults and other serious crimes.

"Our goal is that students feel safe when they walk throughout the downtown," Sparacino said.

DSEP is part of a three-part initiative that began in 2002 and is paid for by tax dollars collected by the DID from borough property owners.

The initiative provides street sweepers and other cleaning personnel downtown in addition to the security force now composed of university police auxiliary officers.

A third component that would put "good will" ambassadors on the streets to give directions and tours to people not familiar with State College is still in the planning phase, Sparacino said.

She added that the new security personnel have received positive feedback from DID committee members.