VEST St Joseph County

09/18/2026

Be prepared!

GAMEDAY INCLEMENT WEATHER UPDATE:

Drive up pay to park in our grass lots will be limited due to weather. Please follow directions of staff and posted message boards when arriving to campus.

Other options for parking include:
• Saint Mary's College
• Holy Cross College
• Eddy Street Commons Parking Garage
• Downtown South Bend with shuttle service provided by Transpo:

Please be mindful that in the case of inclement weather, pop-up tents, tailgating equipment, and temporary structures must be taken down.

Collapsible umbrellas are allowed into the stadium as long as they do not compromise the view or experience of others.

Opt-in to ND Alert for severe weather updates on gameday by texting UNDFANS to CAMPUS (226787).

09/02/2026

V.E.S.T. has a very busy weekend, we will have units staffing the AC/DC concert (see link here for details https://hospitality.nd.edu/cheer/acdc/ ) traffic in Blue lot, Gold Lot, and on Douglas Road at Notre Dame on Friday as well as units at the Marshall County Blueberry Festival working Gates 3 and Gate 5 Thursday through Monday (see event guide here https://heyzine.com/flip-book/cdaa7ecbb0.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawUEqOJwZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR4x1BvTZ7U287BN8F_hFXkJFoS5bYgnBwdTxqYh-PgrfsLbA10-A0bzqw9t8w_aem_RQklkNDycKKav2pRuEXrTw ). Say hi to the units as you attend both of these events.

V.E.S.T. is always looking for new members. If you are interested in joining submit an application at sjcvest.org

08/05/2026

VEST had a blast at National Night Out! Thank you St. Joseph County Police Department for including us again this year. The good and bad is we were having so much fun we didn’t take many photo’s. We did get photos of our 3 winners of the backpack drawing we did. We gave away 3 backpacks focused on supplies for Elementary (K-4), Middle (5-8), and High School (9-12) are kids. We’re proud to announce Our winners K-4 Alina, 5-8 Preston, and 9-12 Kylie. Congrats! We’re always looking for new members, if you talked to us tonight, saw our table, or just see this post and think you might want to join go to sjcvest.org and fill out an application!

What we do

05/03/2026

Michiana Crime Stoppers Spring Shred Event is just one of dozens of events VEST assists with yearly in addition to the emergency traffic control calls we assist police and fire with not only in St. Joseph County but also adjacent counties. In 2025 VEST members put in 2171 hours of event time and 524 hours of time in emergency calls. These nearly 2700 hours of volunteer time we can only do thanks to our dedicated volunteers. VEST is always looking for new dedicated volunteers. If you are interested in joining VEST click the link below and fill out the application or send us a message.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeYTSyKtiAMU8faksti_0EVg8J3kBbFSgPDpzGOZQoQqRAE6A/viewform

05/01/2026

Vest units will be on site to assist with traffic

𝗦𝗛𝗥𝗘𝗗 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗙𝗙𝗜𝗖 𝗔𝗟𝗘𝗥𝗧 | You may have seen the news reports about Jackson Road being closed during our Spring Shredding Event tomorrow at the St. Joseph County Fairgrounds... 𝗗𝗢𝗡'𝗧 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗥𝗬! This will not have a negative impact on the event.

➡️INBOUND TRAFFIC: Vehicles will still enter the fairgrounds off York Road through Gate 7.

⬅️ OUTBOUND TRAFFIC: Vehicles exiting the event will still, like usual, exit the fairgrounds off Jackson Road via Gate 4. However, there will be NIPSCO crews along the road conducting gas main work, so you can only turn RIGHT (east) on Jackson toward Ironwood and out of the closure zone.

Remember... we will be at the fairgrounds from 8 a.m. till noon tomorrow (Saturday) to help you get rid of all those unwanted and sensitive documents, thanks to our friends at Integra Certified Document Destruction!

It's a minimum donation of $20, which allows us to continue paying out rewards our anonymous tipsters, solving felony crimes and catching felony fugitives in our community!

See ya at the fairgrounds!

05/01/2026

Congrats!

After 40+ years of service, we would like to extend our warmest wishes to Assistant Chief Garry Fields on his well-deserved retirement.

Assistant Chief Fields began his career as a Special Deputy in 1985 and became a Police Officer in 1994.

Throughout his career, he served as a correction officer, patrol officer, dispatcher, Honor Guard, and School Resource Officer (SRO) at Clay High School. During his time at Clay High School, he earned the nickname "Corp" and not only ensured the safety and well-being of students and staff but also mentored numerous young individuals as a coach for the girls' basketball team and boys’ football team. A few even followed his footsteps and became Corrections Officers and Police Officers themselves.

In 2019, he was promoted to the position of Assistant Chief, overseeing the jail division, civil division, and our School Resource Officers.

We express our sincere gratitude to Assistant Chief Fields for his decades-long commitment to our department and to our community.

Please join us in congratulating
Assistant Chief Fields on his retirement.

04/18/2026

Vest wants to thank our dispatchers at St Joseph County 9-1-1 here at the end of National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week.

We want to give a shout out to one of our own and one of our close partners who are dispatchers.

Renee is a St. Joe County 911 Dispatcher and is who Vest reports to during Notre same events. She has been a dispatcher for 16 years. She is a huge asset to our unit and we love working with her.

Lt. Pearl is in charge of all activities Vest works and is Dispatcher with Notre Dame Dispatch and has been dispatcher for 8 years.

Renee and Lt. Pearl work together to coordinate all events that Vest works at Notre Dame.

Thank you to all our dispatchers, and a special thank you to Renee and Lt. Pearl!