Spring Break
Letter: Student lobbies for armed campus police; South Kingstown not enough
Issue date: 3/5/09 Section: Editorial/Opinion
03/05/09 - To the Cigar,
The Rhode Island Board of Governors has some serious common sense issues when it comes to the question of arming campus police. In 2000, a question regarding arming campus police was met with the following answer: "Arming university police officers at this time is not prudent; future events may warrant such action."
To put it another way, "Let's wait till someone is killed, then we will respond appropriately by arming campus police."
If we thought like that when it came to fire safety (let's wait until someone dies in a dorm fire, then we will install fire alarms and sprinklers) many, many people would be put at risk.
Another frequent argument is that the South Kingstown police station is "four minutes down the road."
Though the police station is just down the road, this does not mean there are officers sitting in the station waiting for something to happen. The majority of the time officers are out on patrol.
The SKPD is a great department with a vast array of training and skills. Given the large geographical area the SKPD is responsible for and manpower and budget limitations, an incident at the opposite end of town would result in prolonged response times.
Even if there were a number of officers sitting in the station and shots were fired at URI, four minutes is a long time - long enough for an inexperienced shooter to fire 120 rounds from a semi-automatic handgun (assuming one round every two seconds, a more experienced shooter with a weapon like an AK-47 could get off 1,600 rounds in four minutes with the weapon in "burst" mode.)
Is the Board of Governors is willing to sit and wait with students for the cavalry to arrive? Obtaining intelligence, and forming a tactical plan will take even more time. Meanwhile the shots keep coming.
As a former deputy chief at URI Emergency Medical Services, the statistics do not portray the "real deal."
A concert at Edwards Hall not long ago prompted URI to request Rhode Island State Police and SKPD units to stand by in a "show of force" to ward off the potential for violence. While violence is not prevalent on this campus, it has reared its ugly head in the form of assault, sexual assault, narcotic-related and other crimes.
The Rhode Island Board of Governors has some serious common sense issues when it comes to the question of arming campus police. In 2000, a question regarding arming campus police was met with the following answer: "Arming university police officers at this time is not prudent; future events may warrant such action."
To put it another way, "Let's wait till someone is killed, then we will respond appropriately by arming campus police."
If we thought like that when it came to fire safety (let's wait until someone dies in a dorm fire, then we will install fire alarms and sprinklers) many, many people would be put at risk.
Another frequent argument is that the South Kingstown police station is "four minutes down the road."
Though the police station is just down the road, this does not mean there are officers sitting in the station waiting for something to happen. The majority of the time officers are out on patrol.
The SKPD is a great department with a vast array of training and skills. Given the large geographical area the SKPD is responsible for and manpower and budget limitations, an incident at the opposite end of town would result in prolonged response times.
Even if there were a number of officers sitting in the station and shots were fired at URI, four minutes is a long time - long enough for an inexperienced shooter to fire 120 rounds from a semi-automatic handgun (assuming one round every two seconds, a more experienced shooter with a weapon like an AK-47 could get off 1,600 rounds in four minutes with the weapon in "burst" mode.)
Is the Board of Governors is willing to sit and wait with students for the cavalry to arrive? Obtaining intelligence, and forming a tactical plan will take even more time. Meanwhile the shots keep coming.
As a former deputy chief at URI Emergency Medical Services, the statistics do not portray the "real deal."
A concert at Edwards Hall not long ago prompted URI to request Rhode Island State Police and SKPD units to stand by in a "show of force" to ward off the potential for violence. While violence is not prevalent on this campus, it has reared its ugly head in the form of assault, sexual assault, narcotic-related and other crimes.
