New proposal could bring more armed peace officers to University of Rochester campus
Rochester, N.Y. March 29 2019— The University of Rochester is considering adding more armed security.
Right now, there are 87 peace officers who provide security for all of the various University of Rochester campuses.
Forty-nine of them are armed, but they are only stationed at the University of Rochester Medical Center and Strong Memorial Hospital.
UR first added armed officers 2017. The other peace officers on the college campus do carry items like pepper spray, but they don’t carry guns.
A new proposal would put – per shift – two armed peace officers on the River Campus and one at the Eastman School of Music downtown.
The biggest reason behind the change, according to an outline of the proposal on the university’s website, is to reduce response time. It takes an average of six minutes for a peace officer to get from the University of Rochester Medical Center to the River Campus. That’s more than triple the amount of time compared to if an armed peace officer was already on site.
“In an active shooter situation or a situation involving a weapon, these extra minutes cost lives,” the outline notes.
The Eastman School of Music campus relies on the Rochester Police Department to assist in matters in which a weapon is involved.
Student Aayushi Kapadia is finishing up her first year at the college. A native of India, this is her first time in the United States. A few months ago, she said her roommate was robbed at gunpoint near the River Campus.
“That was pretty scary for her,” she says.
Kapadia doesn’t like walking alone at night now, even on campus. That’s why she supports the university’s proposal.
“To know you can access someone at that moment might be helpful for some of us,” Kapadia said.
Arming more officers potentially could have changed what happened to her roommate, she said.
“In that instance, having an armed guard would be helpful,” she said.
In 2017, according to the university, there were 21 reports of sexual assault, 17 reports of stalking, and five reports of burglaries on the River Campus.
Even still, junior Payton Nugent says she doesn’t think arming peace officers is the answer.
“I think the higher, more tragic acts that would require the use of a gun, that’s police, that’s police’s job. That’s not campus security,” said Nugent.
She lived on the River Campus for two years. Now, she lives right off campus. Nugent said she often walks by herself and does not feel scared.
“The only place I felt unsafe was not on campus,” she said, “so having public safety have guns isn’t going to help me in those areas.”
A committee is expected to make recommendations to university leadership this week on the proposal.
WHAN
