At 2:20 a.m. on the morning of Nov. 12, several shots rang out on the corner of Brown and Benevolent Streets. As a crowd of over 400 people watched, an altercation between two groups escalated. One individual drew a firearm and fired five or six shots at the other group, according to eyewitnesses. Having fired the shots, the assaliant fled on foot. He was not pursued.
Fifty feet away, two Brown University police officers watched the incident and were unable to act, handcuffed by their own policy of disengagement. Because they were unarmed, the two officers "had no other option but to take cover and disengage," according to Department of Public Safety Chief Mark Porter.
Fortunately, no one was hurt in this encounter. The next time we may not be so lucky. Until arming is complete, our police will be unable to protect us properly.
Although several years ago, the University decided to arm DPS after a protracted debate, they have yet to do so. In December 2003 Ruth Simmons explained the two questions that had led to the University's decision. "First, what level of safety and protection does the Brown community need? And second, what level of personal risk can the community reasonably ask its police officers to assume if they are not properly equipped to carry out the full range of actions needed to assure a high level of safety?"
While the answers to these questions seemed to point towards arming, concerns about the possibility of accidents incited a debate. These questions were answered by a review from the Bratton Group, an independent consulting firm, which concluded that activities like routine vehicle stops, pursuing suspects and arresting armed perpetrators could not be performed safely or effectively by unarmed officers. In response to this review, the University decided that, in order to have a safe campus and viable police force, it was essential to arm Brown police.
Careful to ensure that the presence of guns on campus does not lead to any accidents, the University has been slow and overly cautious in arming. Brown set a requirement of 160 hours of training for each officer before they are armed - that's a month of full-time training. This training includes video simulations, psychological testing, background checks, diversity training and instructions in verbal persuasion.
The Brown police are trained at the Municipal Police Academy. When most of their classmates graduate they are armed immediately and begin serving. At Brown the police must first undergo this extensive training. It is possible that we are being too careful.
The decision to arm recognized a need, and a danger. While we wait to arm, that danger continues to menace us, as the events of Nov. 12 made clear. The University should expedite arming. It's been two years since the decision to arm, and in that time the campus community and our officers have remained in danger.
We must also support the Univers-ity's decision to arm the Brown police. Though this was a contentious issue at one point, recent events have reaffirmed the need for our officers to be armed. Having witnessed a shooting, our officers were unable to give chase, and the suspect remains at large. Brown has one of the best-trained, most capable campus police forces in the country. It seems appropriate that they should have the tools to match their training. Why handcuff the fine men and women we hire to protect us? We trust them to keep us safe, but because of the delay in arming they are both unable to protect us and are themselves at risk.
Matt Lawrence '06 and Nick Mark '06 sincerely hope that their support of DPS will earn them a favor when room inspections find a Christmas tree in their Young O. common room.
