Campus safety needs answers

Why is it that every time the University is trying to change something, their solution is always to increase the level of bureaucracy? As a recent example, Duke University Police Department Chief Clarence Birkhead is retiring June 30, and he will be replaced by a whole new level of administrative bureaucracy: the “Associate Vice President for Campus Safety.”

If the University wants to improve campus security, we don’t need more administration. Here are some helpful suggestions.

1) Don’t spend $40,000 on SegWay scooters for the police. Bicycles are faster, more maneuverable, look far less ridiculous, and are about 2 percent of the cost.

2) Get rid of the Securitas patrols and use the money to hire more DUPD officers. Many of the Securitas folks are old men who don’t make me feel terribly safe. Others are frequently joking around on the job, spending most of their time at Rick’s sipping coffee or watching FreeWater movies while on duty.

3) I seem to recall a Duke brochure claiming that from every blue light safety phone on campus, you can see two other blue light safety phones. As near as I can tell, this is not true for any blue light safety phone. On Campus Drive, probably the most likely place that someone will be walking on campus at any given time, it is possible to walk half a mile without seeing a blue light safety phone. How about if we take the money that we spent on SegWay scooters and spend it on actual campus safety?

The University doesn’t need to increase bureaucracy to solve its problems. All they need to do is examine the situation and fix the problems.

David Shiffman

Trinity ’07