In the wake of the April 16 Virginia Tech shootings, there has been a growing concern for campus safety. The cumulative effect of the shootings compelled two Seton Hill University (SHU) students, Rosslyn Light, a senior, and Dave Kemerer, a sophomore, to collect signatures in petition for campus police to be armed.
�We didn’ttake the time to know the police weren’tarmed,� Kemerer said.
The two agreed that the proposal would be a good step toward a greater sense of security for students on campus.
By Evan Reynolds,
Online Editor
In the wake of the April 16 Virginia Tech shootings, there has been a growing concern for campus safety. The cumulative effect of the shootings compelled two Seton Hill University (SHU) students, Rosslyn Light, a senior, and Dave Kemerer, a sophomore, to collect signatures in petition for campus police to be armed.
�We didn’ttake the time to know the police weren’tarmed,� Kemerer said.
The two agreed that the proposal would be a good step toward a greater sense of security for students on campus.
�It made the most sense, if they are police officers,� Light said.
According to Dean of Student Services, Charmaine Strong, the Greensburg emergency services and SHU have a strong relationship. Strong cited that the Greensburg police frequently patrol SHU, train the SHU resident assistants (RA), and are very responsive.
According to Kemerer, the Greensburg police have between a fifteen and twenty minute response time, which he considers inadequate. But, according to Archivist Bill Black, there is little difference between the response times of Greensburg police and campus security.
�Police respond to different emergencies differently,� said Black. He also said that there are only two campus police officers on duty at any given time.
Kemerer cited that all the campus police have been trained to serve and most have served in other police departments.
�We�re definitely encouraging all of them to be armed, but anything is better than nothing,� said Light.
However, according to Mike Dell, chief of campus police, SHU policy currently prohibits firearms to everyone on campus. According to Dell, firearms would not have a significant impact on the campus police’s everyday function. Dell said that Virginia Tech was a unique situation.
�(In) certain situations… firearms cut response times,� Dell said. �(But) sometimes firearms cause more trouble than they prevent.�
Adding firearms to the campus police staff would require additional training and a yearly refresher, which, according to Dell is a minimal commitment with a small security staff. Dell said that there were other alternatives, such as tasers.
�I think some of them (campus police) are certainly capable, but there are others not trained to do so,� said Black.
�I wished we had more time to collect signatures,� she said.
�I feel that (in) doing this, I know I did everything I could,� Kemerer said.
Kemerer and Light said they would continue the petition next semester.
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