Students north of Northeast 45th Street may be used to seeing officers patrolling the U-District, but this year they may start to recognize some familiar faces.

The Incident Prevention Team (IPT) of the UW Police Department (UWPD) works with students and community members north of Northeast 45th Street to keep the area safe. The team conducts party checks and works with students in the Greek community, as well as addressing community safety concerns. Last year, one full-time officer staffed the team, and additional slots were filled with patrol officers who signed up for overtime shifts. This year, however, three officers work the same shifts each week, with additional overtime officers as needed.

“It’s formed a nice bond in that we’re all on the same page,” said Kathryn Brecht, one of the full-time IPT officers. “We work together as a team.”

Two officers work Wednesday through Saturday, with one or two overtime officers, and another officer works Sunday through Wednesday, usually with one overtime officer for support. On Wednesdays, when all three IPT officers are on shift, no overtime officers are needed. For busier nights, however, more overtime slots are added to the schedule.

“The rule of thumb is, when we anticipate busier nights, like Halloween, we staff up,” said UWPD Lt. Peter Celms. “For example, coming up, the Apple Cup — we will have additional people out there, and so will [The Seattle Police Department]. When we know that there are increased party events in the future, we try to put additional officers out there to deal with the additional number of people.”

Having consistent officers on the team throughout the week is a way to increase communication with the community. Some residents in the area experienced difficulty when attempting to contact authorities about community problems last year.

“Last year, I personally had a lot of problems with the students who were living next door to us,” said Ruedi Risler, a resident of the University Park neighborhood north of Northeast 45th Street and an employee of the UW Medical Center. “They got talked to by the police without much success, and I think throughout the whole school year, I made between 14 and 17 911 calls about them.”

Risler views the change as positive and hopes that it will help officers better understand the area.

“If there had been a consistent police officer, they would have known that these people had had parties again and again, and it would have stopped the problems that we had, so I am very much in favor of having a consistent set of officers because they will know the neighborhoods a lot better,” Risler said.

Brecht believes that the new system will allow officers to address community concerns in a timelier manner.

“You don’t want to leave a message with someone and not have them get back to you until the next week, and I think it’s a better way to serve the community,” Brecht said. “With this way we can answer questions … or at least address their concerns at that time.”

Reach reporter Lexie Krell at news@dailyuw.com.