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Tina Ortiz, Collegian Columnist
Issue date: 11/4/08 Section: Editorial / Opinion
The Univerisity of Massachusetts Police Department Web site claims that it is "dedicated to ensuring that all members of our community live, work and learn on campus without concerns about safety." Unfortunately, officer conduct has strayed alarmingly far from this ideal for a while. I hope the UMPD sees its recent reassignment to the Department of Administration and Finance as an opportunity to improve its numerous inadequacies.
The Chancellor called for the reassignment in attempts to broaden the community in which the department protects to include not only students but also faculty and staff. UMass Amherst, in recent years, has placed notoriously high on lists ranking the nation's most violent campuses.
It's clear that our mini-metropolis is the site for a substantial amount of violence. So why, if there are legitimate crimes taking place on campus, are officers more focused on pinning people with expensive traffic citations?
Not stopping for someone in a crosswalk is an offense that carries a $200 fine, and yet I don't even feel safe walking home from the library at night.
Every student is financially spoken for here. No one goes to school for free, whether it's through scholarships or financial aid. The University above all things - even education - is a business. The fundamental purpose of a police force should not be to bring in revenue, but to maintain general public safety.
Now, if an officer sets out on patrol with the goal of writing tickets first and public safety somewhere second, it's clear that in doing so he blinds himself to real crime and allows a frightening change in his own behavior.
As a society, we understand that being a police officer is dangerous work. We give officers some authority to use at their own reasonable digression when enforcing laws that protect us all.
It's my right and civic obligation to question when that authority is being abused.
I feel that anyone who works to protect the greater good for a living is brave, but police brutality is an ugly reality in many communities. The police are here on this campus to protect, first and foremost. So the safety of a person waiting for a bus late at night should come before pulling someone over for a rolling stop.
A simple traffic violation can put you hundreds of dollars in the hole, and yet while waiting at a crosswalk I've seen cruisers bomb down Massachusetts Avenue doing at least 60 miles per hour. Invasive and disrespectful questioning is standard procedure for police officers on campus.
My 21-year-old friend was stopped and immediately told to "hand over your ID sit the fuck down on the curb, and shut up" last semester as he tried to bring alcohol back to his room in Southwest, a harmless action.
As I watched the officers prey on him, their aggression seemed to be driven from a place of cowardice not unlike that of over zealous hall monitors.
Time spent harassing a 21-year-old about alcohol, while someone could be in serious danger, is time wasted. Seeing those blue lights distracts me from the road and impairs my driving abilities to a significant degree.
Officers deserve respect and I'm sure that it's rare when they get the proper amount of it from the student body. But if the police helped me more than they targeted me, my perspective of them would be different. But they don't. So, it isn't.
If you're frightened and worried about police presence in the first place then you're less likely to protect your own personal rights. Every officer knows this and capitalizes on that ignorance as a means of getting you to incriminate yourself. Asking if you have the legal right to willfully deny any request without legal penalty can diffuse many situations, so know your rights and know them well.
Increased police presence means only increased surveillance on this campus. With Question 2 on the ballot, the UMPD is frantically rounding up as many stoners as they can. A recent article in High Times magazine reported that over 48 million Americans admitted to being habitual pot smokers.
Without even taking into account those stoners in denial, it's time that police forces nation wide focus on convicting and preventing violent crimes, you know, the ones that pose legitimate threats to public safety. This isn't to say I want weed to be legalized. If the best pot was grown on American soil then believe me, it would be legal. Until then, Uncle Sam better keep his grubby little paws out of my zip lock baggy.
The moral panic generated by the War on Drugs has not only caused police to waste time and public money, but also caused them to fall from the good graces of the public.
While I won't claim that all officers abuse their authority, I will say many policemen and women forget that they are just that, men and women. The badge represents a brave commitment to the public, and by no means puts you above the law. Fiscal inefficiency is an ugly habit that many public Universities can't seem to shake and it infects virtually all aspects of administration here.
A police department more invested in harassing people out of its money than preserving their safety is making a wasteful mistake, with dangerous consequences.
http://media.www.dailycollegian.com....shtml?reffeature=recentlycommentedstoriestab
Issue date: 11/4/08 Section: Editorial / Opinion
The Univerisity of Massachusetts Police Department Web site claims that it is "dedicated to ensuring that all members of our community live, work and learn on campus without concerns about safety." Unfortunately, officer conduct has strayed alarmingly far from this ideal for a while. I hope the UMPD sees its recent reassignment to the Department of Administration and Finance as an opportunity to improve its numerous inadequacies.
The Chancellor called for the reassignment in attempts to broaden the community in which the department protects to include not only students but also faculty and staff. UMass Amherst, in recent years, has placed notoriously high on lists ranking the nation's most violent campuses.
It's clear that our mini-metropolis is the site for a substantial amount of violence. So why, if there are legitimate crimes taking place on campus, are officers more focused on pinning people with expensive traffic citations?
Not stopping for someone in a crosswalk is an offense that carries a $200 fine, and yet I don't even feel safe walking home from the library at night.
Every student is financially spoken for here. No one goes to school for free, whether it's through scholarships or financial aid. The University above all things - even education - is a business. The fundamental purpose of a police force should not be to bring in revenue, but to maintain general public safety.
Now, if an officer sets out on patrol with the goal of writing tickets first and public safety somewhere second, it's clear that in doing so he blinds himself to real crime and allows a frightening change in his own behavior.
As a society, we understand that being a police officer is dangerous work. We give officers some authority to use at their own reasonable digression when enforcing laws that protect us all.
It's my right and civic obligation to question when that authority is being abused.
I feel that anyone who works to protect the greater good for a living is brave, but police brutality is an ugly reality in many communities. The police are here on this campus to protect, first and foremost. So the safety of a person waiting for a bus late at night should come before pulling someone over for a rolling stop.
A simple traffic violation can put you hundreds of dollars in the hole, and yet while waiting at a crosswalk I've seen cruisers bomb down Massachusetts Avenue doing at least 60 miles per hour. Invasive and disrespectful questioning is standard procedure for police officers on campus.
My 21-year-old friend was stopped and immediately told to "hand over your ID sit the fuck down on the curb, and shut up" last semester as he tried to bring alcohol back to his room in Southwest, a harmless action.
As I watched the officers prey on him, their aggression seemed to be driven from a place of cowardice not unlike that of over zealous hall monitors.
Time spent harassing a 21-year-old about alcohol, while someone could be in serious danger, is time wasted. Seeing those blue lights distracts me from the road and impairs my driving abilities to a significant degree.
Officers deserve respect and I'm sure that it's rare when they get the proper amount of it from the student body. But if the police helped me more than they targeted me, my perspective of them would be different. But they don't. So, it isn't.
If you're frightened and worried about police presence in the first place then you're less likely to protect your own personal rights. Every officer knows this and capitalizes on that ignorance as a means of getting you to incriminate yourself. Asking if you have the legal right to willfully deny any request without legal penalty can diffuse many situations, so know your rights and know them well.
Increased police presence means only increased surveillance on this campus. With Question 2 on the ballot, the UMPD is frantically rounding up as many stoners as they can. A recent article in High Times magazine reported that over 48 million Americans admitted to being habitual pot smokers.
Without even taking into account those stoners in denial, it's time that police forces nation wide focus on convicting and preventing violent crimes, you know, the ones that pose legitimate threats to public safety. This isn't to say I want weed to be legalized. If the best pot was grown on American soil then believe me, it would be legal. Until then, Uncle Sam better keep his grubby little paws out of my zip lock baggy.
The moral panic generated by the War on Drugs has not only caused police to waste time and public money, but also caused them to fall from the good graces of the public.
While I won't claim that all officers abuse their authority, I will say many policemen and women forget that they are just that, men and women. The badge represents a brave commitment to the public, and by no means puts you above the law. Fiscal inefficiency is an ugly habit that many public Universities can't seem to shake and it infects virtually all aspects of administration here.
A police department more invested in harassing people out of its money than preserving their safety is making a wasteful mistake, with dangerous consequences.
http://media.www.dailycollegian.com....shtml?reffeature=recentlycommentedstoriestab
