Spring Break
University police force will benefit student body
Anthony Cesarini
Issue date: 3/14/08 Section: Ed-Op
Last week's announcement of a campus police force was truly big news. Almost immediately after The Triangle published the story on its web site, The Philadelphia Inquirer had a quick write up about it on theirs. Even the Associated Press put out a short story about the news.
Since 2003 when I arrived at Drexel, it seems that a majority of students were calling for a police department. Whenever I brought up the idea to administrators while I was editor of The Triangle, they had a handful of reasons for me about why Drexel didn't need a police department. I'm glad to see that administrative changes in the Department of Student Life and Administrative Services have allowed this idea to get a second chance.
It always seemed ridiculous for Drexel to not have a police department. We're one of the largest private universities in the country, in one of the largest cities, and yet we only have public safety officers in yellow jackets.
Certainly, hope for reduction in crime is at the forefront of the talk on campus about the police department.
However, I've heard a few students argue that a police department will do little to improve campus life. They argue that two Philadelphia police officers already patrol campus along with plenty of public safety officers, and that having police on campus will lead to more student arrests and citations at parties near campus.
I disagree. I think that a campus police department will greatly improve campus life, and that it has even more benefits in addition to crime reduction.
In response to the concern about parties, all I can say is that if you're hosting a party that's too loud right now, and you get the cops called on you, you're already risking getting in trouble with Philadelphia police, so an on-campus police department is probably not going to lead to tons of additional arrests - it's not in the school's best interest to arrest its students since they will have to report about these arrests in their yearly crime statistics.
Since 2003 when I arrived at Drexel, it seems that a majority of students were calling for a police department. Whenever I brought up the idea to administrators while I was editor of The Triangle, they had a handful of reasons for me about why Drexel didn't need a police department. I'm glad to see that administrative changes in the Department of Student Life and Administrative Services have allowed this idea to get a second chance.
It always seemed ridiculous for Drexel to not have a police department. We're one of the largest private universities in the country, in one of the largest cities, and yet we only have public safety officers in yellow jackets.
Certainly, hope for reduction in crime is at the forefront of the talk on campus about the police department.
However, I've heard a few students argue that a police department will do little to improve campus life. They argue that two Philadelphia police officers already patrol campus along with plenty of public safety officers, and that having police on campus will lead to more student arrests and citations at parties near campus.
I disagree. I think that a campus police department will greatly improve campus life, and that it has even more benefits in addition to crime reduction.
In response to the concern about parties, all I can say is that if you're hosting a party that's too loud right now, and you get the cops called on you, you're already risking getting in trouble with Philadelphia police, so an on-campus police department is probably not going to lead to tons of additional arrests - it's not in the school's best interest to arrest its students since they will have to report about these arrests in their yearly crime statistics.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
kagedmunky
Andy
posted 3/19/08 @ 9:28 PM EST
Well I just typed a novel and then accidently clicked on a link before posting it so to sum things up in a nutshell: I think it's good that Drexel is waking up, taking a look around and deciding that they must keep up with the Joneses. (Continued…)
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