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Wednesday, April 13, 2016 | Indiana Daily Student | idsnews.com
» TRUSTEES
» SAFETY
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Of the eight non-student board members, six have donated to mostly Republican candidates, and one, Patrick Shoulders, has donated to mostly Democratic candidates. Trustee Derica Rice’s donations have been split between the two parties, according to followthemoney.org and opensecrets.org. Followthemoney.org is run by the National Institute on Money in State Politics, which uses data from disclosure agencies with which candidates must file their campaign finance reports, according to the website. Opensecrets.org, a site run by the Center for Responsive Politics, uses its data to track federal campaign contributions and lobbying. Calder Burgam, a researcher at the National Institute on Money in State Politics, said all the institute’s data comes from government agencies charged with collecting and making campaign finance data available. The Institute uses more than 50 state agencies and the Federal Election Commission to gather all its data. Burgam said the Supreme Court has continued to reaffirm the importance of strong disclosure when it comes to campaign finance. “For that disclosure to be effective, it must be comprehensive and accessible,” Burgam said. Having a single database allows the public to connect the dots between political spending and policy influence, Burgam said. This creates better-informed citizens who can engage in democracy, he said. “Disclosure of campaign finances is essential to ensuring an accountable, responsive government,” Burgam said. Morris said the reasons for his campaign contributions are private and in no way reflect his role at the University. Tobias said it is the responsibility of every citizen to participate in the democratic process. “If we don’t we will live with the consequences of the decisions of those who do, as we may be observing in this election cycle,” Tobias said.
Applegate said even though blue lights are “not a major aspect” of the safety programs on campus, IU’s phones should not be removed. INCONSISTENT IDEOLOGY The University police has primary jurisdiction over campus, plus one block. Beyond this area, Bloomington Police Department officers have primary jurisdiction. Still, many students live off campus, and according to a study by IUSA in 2010, the further students live from campus, the less safe they feel, even while on campus. Mark Bruhn, associate vice president for public safety and institutional assurance, said the University and its police force can only take responsibility for what happens in its area of primary jurisdiction as decided by state statute and a Board of Trustees resolution. “The official response to that is if it occurs outside the geographical borders of the campus, it’s going to be a Bloomington Police Department case,” Bruhn said. “We’re going to contact Bloomington Police Department for periodic updates. If they ask us to be involved, we will be involved.” However, IUPD does work outside its jurisdiction through a partnership with BPD for “Quiet Nights,” a program that puts one IUPD and one BPD officer in a patrol vehicle. The pair stay on call for noise violation complaints on the weekends. They are not dispatched for other kinds of calls, unless a severe situation arises. There are no joint patrols specifically for off-campus student safety. After the kidnapping and murder of IU student Hannah Wilson, though, IUPD Chief Laury Flint has been telling her officers to disregard jurisdiction lines. She encourages them to “swing out” during their pa-
TAE-GYUN KIM | IDS
IUPD officer Pablo Pesa patrols around campus Jan. 10. Due to recent shift changes, Pesa works a 12-hour shift from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
trols to cover off-campus areas frequented by students, in hopes of preventing that kind of crime from happening again. Wilson lived just two blocks from the west edge of campus, at the corners of Eighth and Dunn streets. “People like to see us,” Flint said. “It makes them feel safe, so we tried to increase patrols in some of those areas.” OFFICER LOSSES In 1985, IUPD employed 59 full-time officers. In 2016, IUPD employs 40 full-time officers. This officer reduction occurs as the University enrollment increases. In the fall of 1985, there were 32,816 students. In 2015, 48,514 enrolled in the fall, including 7,875 freshmen. When considering that more than 48,000 people are on campus during the day, IUPD does not meet the minimum
recommended number of full-time officers per thousand people, according to the International Association of Chiefs of Police. IU should have about 86 officers, based on student enrollment. Flint said the University’s top priority is education, and budgeting preference is given to academic units over non-academic units, such as IUPD. Applegate said vacated positions are sometimes eliminated for efficiency, at Flint’s discretion, but IUPD Capt. Andy Stephenson said any loss in manpower hurts IUPD. “Not only does it decrease the number of police officers we’re able to put out on patrol, it also forces everyone we have that works here to do additional tasks,” Stephenson said. “It makes us less effective all around, to lose positions.” Recently, four IUPD officer positions were made
system-wide positions, Flint said. This reduced the number of officers who serve just the Bloomington campus. All full-time officers are critical to either patrols or investigations, Stephenson said. IUPD’s capacity for community relations is almost nonexistent at its current staffing level. He said he hopes this can improve moving forward. “We don’t have the numbers to put some officers out on foot patrol at the library or the Union to get to know people,” Stephenson said. “It’s not all because of our staffing level, but it would make it a lot easier if we had additional personnel that weren’t critical to the patrol function.” Part-time officers and IUPD cadets help meet the needs of IU’s growing campus, administrators said, and exist as answers for not meeting the minimum number of officers per thousand people. IUPD annually employs
30 to 40 part-time officers, Flint said. They are full-time students, but they have graduated the police academy and are fully certified, sworn law enforcement officials. They live in and mostly patrol dorms. Part-time officers can save the University money, Flint said. They are paid less, and, perhaps more importantly, they are not provided benefits. IUPD is striving to add full-time positions. Adding only one position is not enough though, Flint said. Several positions should be added at a time to make a difference. However, the more positions IUPD requests at a time, the less likely it is that the request is granted, Flint said. “Our goal every fiscal year is to increase our number of personnel,” Stephenson said. “It’s going to take some time to build IUPD into what it needs to be, but it’s going to happen.”
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