Last week, a letter was written to the editor of the Voice concerning the previous Saxa Politica column entitled, “What Security?” In the letter, Department of Public Safety Communications Officer Dave Bledsoe (SSCE ‘02) spoke on behalf of DPS about the current state of University safety?reasserting the department’s commitment to students’, faculty and staff’s best interests.
Bledsoe stated that DPS officers do not patrol the Burleith neighborhood is due to their lack of jurisdiction in the area. According to Bledsoe, “it is against the law for DPS officers to exercise police powers” in the area. Students, however, are not asking for DPS officers to make arrests; students are asking for the presence of officers in the area. The mere visibility of officers in the blocks north of Reservoir Road will provide a heightened degree of security for students walking home past sunset.
Bledsoe also argued that even if DPS is given jurisdiction in the Burleith area, this will not increase students’ security because DPS officers are unarmed. DPS officers do not even have pepper spray, nightarms or firearms, Bledsoe said. In fact, the only “weapon” that DPS officers carry is a radio, according to Bledsoe.
Bledsoe even went as far to say that if DPS officers are asked to patrol the Burleith area “without protection,” students are “just asking for an officer to be seriously injured or killed.”
So let’s assess the situation that Bledsoe presents us with. Through Bledsoe, DPS is communicating to students that it recognizes that Burleith is not a safe area?Bledsoe himself clearly states that an officers’ life might be at stake if he or she walks the streets unarmed. However, DPS is simultaneously stating that it does not plan to take any measures to improve this situation.
One would think the majority of students do not walk around carrying “weapons” of any sort. However, unlike DPS officers, students who live off-campus do not have any choice in venturing out into the shadows of Burleith. What then are students supposed to do? As Bledsoe acknowledged, students wait 20 to 30 minutes for SafeRides vans to arrive due to the “overwhelming” number of calls to DPS. Thus, students essentially are forced to face the current situation as it stands.
Bledsoe’s statements infer that DPS officers’ lives are not at risk while within the protective boundaries of the University campus. What is stopping potential offenders from crossing the invisible borders between the University and the outside world? It sure isn’t a DPS officer.
Having said all of this, the blame is not solely being placed on DPS. Director of DPS William Tucker is perhaps taking all means possible with the limited funding that he is given from the University. It is not DPS’s fault that it does not have the funds to acquire more vans for SafeRides. It is also not DPS’ fault that they cannot pay more officers to man phone lines to prevent students from facing busy signals.
If DPS is presently doing all that it can possibly do, it then becomes the responsibility of a higher level of the administration to relay the funds to DPS that are necessary for it to improve the current situation.
The issue of safety is one of utmost importance to the University community. DPS has taken its position. If this resource has already been stretched to its full potential, it is time for the rest of the University to face the facts and step up to the plate.
