Armed officers still controversial

It's been a year since the university permitted campus police officers to carry guns. While no guns have actually been discharged, they have been shown as a deterrent to crime.

Over the past year, there has been discussion over whether it is appropriate for campus police to be armed. It cost $10,000 to train each officer and provide them with guns and ammunition - ample money that could have been used elsewhere, especially since no guns have been fired by any officers. In addition, their jurisdiction only includes campus and the streets that run through it - disregarding popular off-campus living areas like Cleveland Avenue and Chapel Street. Throughout this time, Public Safety reports that campus crime has remained approximately the same as past years.

Despite all the reasons to disarm the walking officers, it has been well worth the effort and money to arm university officers.

One of the main reasons Public Safety decided to arm officers was because of the tragedy that occurred at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. If anything similar were ever to happen here, officers would be armed and ready to respond to the scene immediately. There is a level of comfort knowing that those first to the scene would be prepared to protect innocent students and faculty.

Crime prevention should be a priority on a college campus, and by giving officers the ability to enact this, crime can be deterred. In the instances when the officer has drawn a gun but did not use it, the gun acted as a helpful tool in stopping any further crime at the scene.

The Newark Police Department responds to any calls that deal with off-campus threats but with the addition of guns and gun-training for university officers, Newark Police can call them for back-up. Because of the experience and training for university officers, there are more who can protect the entire city from crime with the use of a firearm if need be.

While the idea of university officers having guns may be controversial, the issue comes down to one crucial question - if guns were to be taken away and a tragedy occurred that could have been prevented, would it be worth it?

Comments

5 comments

l4d

Sun Nov 15 2009 20:49

I hope they can shoot zombies running at a full sprint. I know I can.

Your name

Wed Nov 11 2009 14:03

UD public safety = DE state police ?
Cite your source or gtfo.

Your name

Tue Nov 10 2009 22:29

All the University officers are state police officers. Although they used to not carry guns, they are still trained on how to use them. Also, before this went into effect. All university officers carried weapons in the vehicles. Now instead of having them secured in their cars they just carry them on their belts. It is certainly worth the money and it is a deterrent from crime, and it probably provides all the officers with an extra sense of security.

wow

Tue Nov 10 2009 16:49

I guess those students at VTech were drunk when the whole tragedy took place.... keep your comments to yourself.

Your name

Tue Nov 10 2009 10:34

The answer to the last question posed in the article is: Yes.

About 50 armed officers at $10,000 per officer is $500,000 being spent to protect drunk students inexpertly traipsing about campus at night. If one of them got picked off, it would only be a tragedy in the sense that some psychopath stole the train's kill.

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