The Duke University Police Department began patrols this week in the neighborhoods surrounding East Campus, just in time for the first wave of off-campus parties that marks the beginning of the school year.
As students arrive back on campus and freshmen don their stiletto heels or button-down shirts to wander through the neighborhoods surrounding East Campus, police from Duke and Durham will be out in “strong-arm sure force” to make sure drunk students stay safe—and neighbors stay sane—said Clarence Birkhead, chief of the Duke University Police Department.
This week DUPD begins to patrol the area near East Campus as part of an extended jurisdiction agreement with the city. The legislation that allows DUPD to exercise its authority from Main to Green Streets and Ninth to Gregson was passed in 2003.
After a year of preparations, including hiring and training several new officers, DUPD is ready to venture off campus just in time for the start of the school year. Durham police will still be the primary law enforcement in the area.
Executive Vice President Tallman Trask noted that this is not an effort to target students. “[DUPD officers] are there primarily to protect and intervene in bad behavior,” he said, citing fist fights and throwing up on cars as examples. “This is not an alcohol patrol.”
With the extended jurisdiction, officers will mostly concentrate on increasing police visibility during weekends and evenings when more students are off campus.
At this time of year, most of the consequences seem directed at curbing student parties, but the larger jurisdiction may also bring increased risks to DUPD force members, as the violent crime rate of the neighborhoods off East Campus is generally higher than it is on campus. The last time a Duke Police office fired a gun while responding to a call was in 1990, but with the potential for DUPD to respond to cases like domestic disturbances and with Durham’s growing narcotics traffic, it may be more likely to happen again.
“We’ve been trained to handle those types of crimes,” DUPD Maj. Phyllis Cooper said. “Police are police. We can do our job wherever.”
For the first four weekends of school, Duke has also hired several Durham Police Department officers on a contract basis to provide extra security during this time when large, off-campus parties flourish most. On Thursday through Saturday nights, DUPD will dispatch teams of four police, including officers from both Duke and Durham. Although a similar system was in place last year, residents and Durham police officers in District Two, which covers much of the area surrounding East, called last year’s parties “out of control.”
Birkhead said the standards will be somewhat stricter this year. “There were a lot of parties last year that we may not have handled as well as we could have,” he said. “We certainly took those complaints to heart.
Independently of the University, the DPD also sent a pre-emptive letter to many of the students living in houses off East warning them that they are subject to the laws of Durham and the standards of the community. A copy also was sent to the parents of off-campus students.
“We’re not trying to pick on anybody,” DPD Lt. D.C. Allen said. “Parents don’t send their children here to start criminal records. They’re sent here to get a great education.”
Several students in multiple neighborhoods near East told The Chronicle Thursday that they had not received those letters.
DUPD said it received no calls Wednesday night, the first night that freshmen were at Duke. DPD said they only responded to one complaint, at a party in the 900 block of Onslow Street.
Off-campus students said things have been intentionally quieter this year, in part because of last year’s skirmishes with neighbors. “Things are scaled down a lot,” said senior Matt Oesterle, who lives on Buchanan Street. “We’re also working very had in conjunction with the neighbors to make sure that they’re respected.”
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