Campus safety
I've launched a discussion over at my blog about New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram's directive yesterday to state, county and local law-enforcement agencies. She wants officers, when there is reason to believe someone arrested for a serious criminal offense, including DWI, may be an undocumented immigrant, to alert federal immigration officials, the prosecuting agency and the judiciary.
I am checking with N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper's office for find out whether he thinks a similar policy might be needed in North Carolina.
On another subject, Ken is looking into campus safety issues. Yesterday, Virginia Tech issued a report related to the April 16 shootings. The UNC system also has come out with some recommendations related to campus safety (apparently not available on the system Web site). I'm sure Ken can dig it out and write some good analysis.
What do you think would make college campuses safer?
Comments (4)
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Why should campuses be singled out for special safety rules? Is it more important to keep a campus safe than a neighborhood? The campus safety crisis is hugely overblown. UNCG has a large police force that deals with a felony or two a year. College students, despite their precious status in the eyes of the journalistic and political worlds, have no more right to safety than anyone else. As it is, they receive a vastly disproportionate level of care relative to the population as a whole.
Posted on August 23, 2007 2:35 PM
To follow-up on Brian444's comment, school and college campuses are generally much safer than the neighborhoods that surround them. Because of the large concentrations of people (and especially youth) in these locations, special precautions such as school-resource officers and campus police forces are needed. So there is a rationale for extra precautions (there's also a rationale from the standpoint of town-gown relations and reducing the burden on local police forces).
On or off campus, we should look to improve safety where possible. But as Brian444 points out, we need to maintain a reasonable perspective. We also need to deploy scarce public safety resources where they can do the most good.
Posted on August 23, 2007 4:56 PM
Campus safety is a thorny problem. I adamantly oppose allowing students and faculty to walk about and attend class armed. That would create an atmosphere most unconducive to learning. Not to mention grading.
How much entry-door security is enough, then? How many guards do you post? Do they all carry firearms? Do we impose serious curfews and curtail the college rituals of drunken revelry, either on campus or returning from downtown bars?
Posted on August 24, 2007 10:47 PM
Is the primary function of campus security to protect students from themselves?
Posted on August 27, 2007 10:30 AM