Capt. Danny Kraemer enjoys his job with the University Police. Kraemer, 57, from Raceland, resides with his wife of 35 years, Judy. Kraemer has two children, Ken and Holly, who are both married. Holly is a graduate of Nicholls.

Before working for Nicholls, Kraemer was a student here. He graduated from Nicholls with a bachelor’s degree in science in 1967.

Kraemer has been involved with the University Police for 21 years, and said he will try to retire in about 3 years.

“(My day is) kind of hectic, busy, (there is) a lot of traffic and reports,” he said.

Kraemer enjoys his job, even with the unusual and interesting things that happen while on the job.

“Probably the most interesting thing was the alligator in the swimming pool. I had to go get him out of the swimming pool,” he said.

“Also, a couple of vehicles turned over. They kind of flipped on the side in the parking lot. We had to help turn them back over.”

Kraemer has advice for people who may be interested in his type of work.

“You have to have a lot of patience with students, and students are the main focus of the University, they are just trying to get an education, he said.

Being on University Police is different from being on a regular police force, Kraemer said.

“A regular police force deals with different types of people, we deal with students,” he said.

There is less crime that needs to be dealt with on the University level than on the parish level, he said.

Some of the biggest problems that need to be dealt with on campus are students and parking, he said.

To try to prevent students from parking in the wrong areas, more tickets are being written, Kraemer said.

“I try to help the students out. If I can void the ticket before printing I will give them a warning instead,” he said.

Kraemer knows how it feels to be a student on campus.

“I feel what the students do. At the time I was going to school, we had problems with parking too. I got a few tickets for parking once or twice, but not too many of them,” he said.

When the Saints stayed at Nicholls, Kraemer helped with the security on campus.

“It was really interesting, a large crowd every night and during the day while they were practicing,” he said.

“I did my share of transporting them. I carried my load of a few players, they enjoyed riding in the back of a cop car.”

When not catching student parking offenders, Kraemer said he enjoys working at his business in biological supplies, fishing and catching alligators, he said.

Although not employed by Wildlife and Fisheries, he is often called to take care of nuisance alligators who have wandered into people’s yards, he said.

“I have a pair of alligator handcuffs,” he said.

Kraemer said he likes to live by this motto: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

“( If ) you do good for others, they will do good for you,” he said.