By Alfredo Roman Jordan, Staff Columnist
Over the last weekend, we received emails regarding two separate incidents that affect our safety on campus. It’s no secret that safety on campus has been declining, as evidenced by various emails sent by Campus Safety at the beginning of the year following fights and arrests. In fact, Niche downgraded our college to a C+ for safety. The reality is that the campus doesn’t feel safe to most of us.
However, it seems that the Gettysburg Police Department (GPD) is more concerned about policing students than criminals. It’s not uncommon to see two to three police cars slowly rolling down East Lincoln Avenue along the fraternities, ensuring our “safety.” But how is having armed police officers slow rolling down the street ensuring our safety? After all, the biggest dangers we might face on a Saturday night are alcohol poisoning or drug overdoses (which are uncommon), and we have Campus Safety for those.
GPD seems much more concerned about getting DUI Top Gun awards (three out of the 21 named for this award in all of PA policed the Gettysburg area) than ensuring our safety as students. For instance, during the past school year, a red pickup truck drove along the campus, yelling slurs at students and community members. Many of us have been victims of this ongoing and extremely common hate crime, and we have all been told to call 911 when we see the clearly identifiable truck again, yet no arrests have been made.
Moreover, having so much armed police presence on campus during the weekends makes a lot of us feel unsafe and creates an atmosphere of mistrust. International students like me feel like this also imposes barriers on their level of involvement on this campus and many of us wouldn’t know how to act if stopped by an officer. There has even been a presence of unmarked police vehicles that often camp outside Rice or Patrick, again indicating that a certain level of targeting is occurring against Gettysburg College students. There is a growing demand on campus for Campus Safety to take control of our safety again to be able to use a restorative justice model instead of GPD’s judicial approach.
However, Campus Safety is not blameless either. They have repeatedly been slow in warning the community about ongoing threats. For example, last Sunday night, when a suspicious man was following students into their halls, Campus Safety took nearly two hours to email us. During that period, the individual continued to be a threat to the community, and we were all instead warned through word of mouth, YikYak, and Snapchat.
The issue of safety on campus is not just limited to the incidents mentioned in the emails. Many students, faculty, and staff have expressed concerns about the overall safety measures in place on campus. There have been instances of sexual assault, theft, vandalism, and other crimes that have gone unaddressed or inadequately handled. In addition, there have been reports of insufficient lighting in certain areas of the campus, and a lack of visible security presence during late hours, which have raised questions about the effectiveness of the safety measures in place.
From my perspective, Campus Safety is here to take care of our well-being in matters that don’t require an armed force and that don’t present a danger from a third person. They are the ones who should be ensuring our safety along East Lincoln on weekends. Meanwhile, GPD and other local law enforcement should be prosecuting individuals who present a threat to the community, such as stalkers, hate crime perpetrators, and other dangerous individuals. GPD has diverted too many resources into policing fraternities, when these resources could be better used in solving the lack of safety in this town, as evidenced by the recent crimes that have occurred.
