This is the busy season for campus police, and officers are finding themselves stretched thin.

Campus police have 23 officers on staff, five less than full complement, said Maj. Mike Wallace, field operations commander.

Full complement is the number of officers campus police are allowed to have on staff.

Some officers are having to work two out of the three shifts to keep up with the demand for security, he said.

The stretch of the semester from September to November is full of events such as concerts and sporting events, Wallace said.

“It’s a lot of hours on the job,” he said. “Physically, just being here— it’s an endurance contest.”

Police are in the process of hiring more officers to get to full complement, but it’s a long process, Wallace said.

Potential officers must first take a test, go through the academy and do field training, which takes a long time, he said.

Capt. Kerry Hatchett, patrol commander, said there’s never really a time during the year when police aren’t busy.

The whole department works on football game days, Hatchett said.

Homecoming week was especially busy because the number of events increased, he said.

Sometimes officers have to work another shift after having worked all night, he said.

But Hatchett, who also goes on patrol, said the extra shifts are worth it.

“I enjoy what I do greatly,” he said.

Hiring more officers will help relieve the situation, he said.

“Right now, everybody has to work all the time,” he said. “You increase your manpower, and that means some people can be off that would normally have to work.”

The University of Kentucky police department has 36 officers on staff, according to the department’s Web site.

Murray State University’s police department has 16 officers, according to the department’s Web site.

Western’s crime rates fall somewhere between UK’s and Murray’s rates, according to campus police records.

Reach Michelle Day at news@chherald.com.