POV: Abolish the BUPD? It’s a Bad Idea

Recent critique of campus police forces ignores their contributions

Photo by Cydney Scott

January 13, 2015
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A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education argued that, in the words of its headline, “For Safety’s Sake, Get Rid of Campus Cops.” “Colleges should divest themselves of all matters criminal [and] should transfer campus police officers to the agencies that already have jurisdiction,” wrote the authors, a pair of criminal justice professors from the University of Cincinnati and Florida State.

The article cites three reasons to eliminate university police. First is concern for an inherent conflict of interest when university police work directly for the institution. Second is the notion that university police are used to enforce university policies and not laws. Lastly, the writers worry that a university police department may not enforce the laws and thereby “under-police” the university.

Municipal policing in America has undergone dramatic changes over the past few decades, and college police departments have mirrored these changes. Today’s police departments, including university police, are focused on crime prevention and problem-solving in partnership with the communities they serve. This “community policing” model requires police agencies to be more open and responsive to community needs and to rely on the public trust to carry out their duties.

Many university police forces today, including the Boston University Police Department, are municipally trained, armed, full-service departments with expertise in dealing with all crimes, including violent crimes such as rape and sexual assault. University police departments, particularly in large urban environments, must provide the level of service expected of a municipal policing agency. In addition, university police must work within the framework of the university environment to ensure a safe, secure campus for students to flourish. This calls for a collaborative effort between the university police and students, faculty, and the administration of the college. This does not, however, create an inherent conflict of interest, but rather a potential conflict that is remedied by ethical police practices. Ethical policing is an issue that’s not limited to university police. Removing the university police department from campus and putting the officers under the jurisdiction of the local police department does nothing to eliminate the potential for conflict and isolates the officers from the community they are sworn to serve and protect.

University police departments enforce federal, state, and local laws within the campus environment, and that often includes municipal ordinances. In addition, they often pass along information regarding criminal wrongdoing by students to the administration, which then can enforce the code of conduct and ensure the safety of other students, faculty, and staff. This university code enforcement action is most often in addition to whatever criminal penalties are issued by the court of jurisdiction and not in lieu of such penalties. To say that university police enforce university rules and not criminal laws is simply wrong. University code or policy enforcement is strictly within the purview of the university administration; however, such action is often taken based on information passed along as a result of an initial criminal investigation.

The concern of under-policing is also misplaced. University police get calls to respond to loud noise complaints, disorderly and intoxicated person complaints (including parties with underage drinking), drug use, assault, and lewd sexual behavior. A university police department, like its municipal police counterpart, will take appropriate action, including arrest, when responding to these types of incidents. The issue is not whether the party is taking place on campus or off, or whether the location is a fraternity house or not, but more importantly, what enforcement action is necessary to prevent crime, especially violent crime. In that regard, the university police will act in accordance with the law, as would a municipal police agency. Sometimes, the proper response is to break up the party before it escalates into a dangerous situation; other times, the party has already created a dangerous situation, and actions such as arrest, summons, or protective custody are in order.

To take the university police off-campus and merge them into an agency of jurisdiction would greatly diminish the effective community policing model that colleges and universities currently have.

Thomas Robbins is chief of the Boston University Police Department and a former superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police. He can be reached at tgresq@bu.edu.

“POV” is an opinion page that provides timely commentaries from students, faculty, and staff on a variety of issues: on-campus, local, state, national, or international. Anyone interested in submitting a piece, which should be about 700 words long, should contact Rich Barlow at barlowr@bu.edu. BU Today reserves the right to reject or edit submissions. The views expressed are solely those of the author and are not intended to represent the views of Boston University.

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POV: Abolish the BUPD? It’s a Bad Idea

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Boston University moderates comments to facilitate an informed, substantive, civil conversation. Abusive, profane, self-promotional, misleading, incoherent or off-topic comments will be rejected. Moderators are staffed during regular business hours (EST) and can only accept comments written in English. Statistics or facts must include a citation or a link to the citation.

There are 27 comments on POV: Abolish the BUPD? It’s a Bad Idea

  2. On the Medical school campus, security does an exemplary job. Over the course of my career, I’ve been on many different campuses. The Chronicle of Higher Education’s stance of elimination of campus security may pertain to SOME SPECIFIC campusues but hopefully not BU. They serve and protect!

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  3. I agree completely with Thomas. A lot of the contributions of the BUPD are overshadowed and unappreciated by BU students. Why? Because students associate the BUPD specifically with the things they don’t like AKA busting up parties. There is a multitude of precautions that they take so that the students are safe. This is what the students should fixate on.

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    1. I agree, and additionally think you underestimate students’ appreciation for BUPD. I’ve never heard anyone speak badly of BUPD, because they know when they break up parties they are doing their job. The only “bad” talk about them I’ve heard is that RA’s call them too often, but even that isn’t a criticism of BUPD, it’s a criticism of RA’s. I’m fairly confident that if a student survey with a question “should the BUPD be abolished” a vast majority would say no.

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  4. Removing the BUPD is a terrible idea! BUPD is an integral part of Boston University as a whole. I personally feel safer on campus just knowing our police are available and within a moments notice. To depend on the Boston or Brookline PD would inevitably cause delay in response time. BUPD ROCKS!

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  5. They should absolutely be abolished.

    The use of special campus police forces reinforces the incorrect notion that college campuses exist outside of the jurisdiction of municipal police forces and District Attorneys. The result of that wrong-headed thinking is that police and DAs show no interest in following up on serious crimes that are alleged to have occurred on those campuses, like rape. That is why those allegations always end up being heard in “in house” disciplinary hearings, where the schools have repeatedly proven that they are simply not qualified to manage the process effectively. The schools either fail to take allegations seriously at all and leave alleged victims to fend for themselves against reprisals and intimidation, or they go to the other extreme and haul the accused into kangaroo courts where the school acts as prosecutor, judge, and jury, and where the accused are frequently denied all the rights they would be entitled to in a criminal proceeding like access to a lawyer, the right to remain silent, the right to face their accuser and cross examine witnesses, and the right to see all the evidence against them. Those disciplinary hearings should be reserved for things like accusations of academic misconduct (cheating, plagiarism, etc), they were never designed for serious crimes. Colleges and Universities are not capable of striking that proper balance between the rights of the accusers and the rights of the accused, and I don’t think they ever will be. They should stop trying, but as long as they keep maintaining their own police forces I think DAs are going to keep deferring to them. Schools need to just get out of the law and order business altogether and tell the police and prosecutors, “this is YOUR job, so start doing it.”

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    1. What?? I don’t know what the basis of DB’s argument is as it related specifically to the BUPD. It sounds as though most of DB’s frustration is with college and university — maybe even BU’s — administrative disciplinary hearing processes. BU has always both prosecuted legally– through Das and courts that hold the Department in high regard — AND pursued internal disciplinary complaints.

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      1. You obviously don’t know ANYTHING about the issues I was talking about at all. What’s really scary is that you don’t even seem to be AWARE of those issues. It’s clear you don’t even have a clue what I’m talking about, and considering how much these issues I’ve brought up have been in the news recently, I’m absolutely flabbergasted that you don’t even know these issues exist.

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        2. In re-reading this article inn September, I noted DB’s response to my comment in response to his in January.

          DB, I DO know about these issues firsthand, and over many years. You are totally misinformed about Boston University and the BUPD and how crimes, whether violations, misdemeanors, or felonies are responded to here. Or the roles of the BUPD and District Attorneys in the prosecution of cases.

          I cannot extend my comments to other colleges and universities, because it would be ignorant to do so without intimate knowledge of those institutions. I have that knowledge of Boston University and the BUPD, as well as surrounding law enforcement agencies.

          The BUPD works with the DA on a daily basis and together the Commonwealth and BUPD had prosecuted and gained convictions in hundreds of violent crimes. The BUPD is held in high regard by the Suffolk County, Norfolk County, and Middlesex County District Attorneys and their prosecutorial staff. BUPD has a reputation for consistent first class police work, credibility, and outstanding courtroom testimony. That places BUPD in an enviable position with the Commonwealth’s prosecutors compared to many municipal departments. Boston University supports the proactive police work of the BUPD; not many local colleges and universities do so.

          There have been cases in which victims of crimes in the BUPD jurisdiction, both BU affiliates and non-affiliates, have declined to testify in court and it has been the District Attorneys who then decline to prosecute a suspect arrested by BUPD. They decline to prosecute cases arising from crimes in Boston, Brookline, and Cambridge for the same reasons. The same happens in crimes that occur everywhere in the nation and all are due to the same concerns: fear of reprisal from a suspect or a community, witness intimidation, embarrassment, and desire to “put it all behind me.”

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    2. I think you misinterpret/exaggerate the role of universities in discipline off campus. You say they are “frequently denied all the rights they would be entitled to,” but that’s an outright false statement. It sounds like your referencing alcohol-related summons, which are just like getting a traffic ticket. When you go to court for speeding, you don’t have cross examinations and a lawyer, and the process is the same for most alcohol-related incidents.

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    3. I agree with abolishing the police.

      I have felt unsafe and mistreated by some police. But most of all, it’s a waste of resource. I think that there are spaces where BUPD is welcome and there are spaces where people feel unsafe by police presense and that needs to be accounted for.

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    4. Do you even go to BU? Just a few years ago 2 students were accused of rape and sexual assault on campus. These incidents were heard in a court of law, not “in house”. To say that “The schools either fail to take allegations seriously at all and leave alleged victims to fend for themselves against reprisals and intimidation, or they go to the other extreme and haul the accused into kangaroo courts where the school acts as prosecutor, judge, and jury, and where the accused are frequently denied all the rights they would be entitled to in a criminal proceeding like access to a lawyer, the right to remain silent, the right to face their accuser and cross examine witnesses, and the right to see all the evidence against them.” is just untrue and ridiculous!

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      1. Andrea, the incidents you refer to were just the culmination of a long history of covering up abuses by BU’s spoiled hockey players.

        I don’t think university police forces should be abolished. but they need more oversight to prevent them from simply being an arm of school policy, which leads to many conflicts of interest.

        Can you say “Felony State University,” boys & girls?

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    5. Dear DB,
      BUPD is excellent at law enforcement and sensitively addresses issues around dating and domestic violence, rape and other forms of personal disrespect on a regular basis. If you have knowledge of experiences that did not go well for a person at or related to BU, which you feel needs to be discussed more specifically– I would recommend reaching out to our confidential counseling and trauma resources on campus called S.A.R.P. SARP is comprised of an outstanding group of clinicians who can help you access the support you seek, and can be easily reached by calling 617-353-SARP (7277). Peace be with you.

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  6. It would be a dis-service to the university to take away the university police! I feel much safer knowing they are around patrolling the area, and knowing that they will arrive in a timely manner to any incidents that may take place on campus! They need to stay!

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  7. The members of the BUPD are hardworking, selfless, and crucial to maintaining Boston University’s safety. We are grateful for their services.

    Students choose to be a part of Boston University, which in turn requires students to agree to sets of rules that are in part enforced by BUPD. If a student has an objection to these rules or BUPD’s enforcement of them (which were a term of acceptance to the university to which each student gives consent), then said student should consider seeking education at an alternative institution.

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  8. Whether you like the BUPD or not, I don’t think we’re giving enough credit to the BPD. They’re a wonderful force who, contrary to what people are saying, would not be “slower” than BUPD.

    I don’t know, some of the comments on this article seem forced and inauthentic

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    1. BPD is a wonderful police force and do a great job across all of Boston. Purely from a numbers perceptive though, they would not be able provide 02215 with the same attention as BUPD. We are talking about several cruisers all across campus strategically positioned to respond to the entire BU campus at a moments notice.

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    2. BPD is amazing, I agree with you completely! And I don’t think they would be “slower” in the sense that they would respond slower, but they wouldn’t have the amount of police officers BUPD is able to have on patrol on campus at any given time, and because the station for BUPD is on campus they are able to arrive much faster. I agree with you completely though that BPD is an awesome police force, and that’s why BUPD are trained with BPD. The main difference is that BUPD has additional college-specific training, and strategic locations on campus for the fastest possible response. The other thing the article mentioned is that BUPD is able to much better integrate with the BU community and focus on prevention rather than response.

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      1. Thank you Zack for understanding and pointing out the intention of my former comment. I agree that Boston and Brookline Police are all amazing and I appreciate what they do. BUPD and both BPDs also work together to ensure our safety. They all respond to any complaint as quickly as possible, however, BUPD are here on campus and could arrive at a situation quicker.

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  9. The BUPD was established in the early 1970s because the Boston Police Department stated they could not respond to calls to the campus in a timely manner and wouldn’t commit to a 24-hour presence. Then-President John Silber was not satisfied with the lack of assurance that the BU community could be provided with law enforcement and crime prevention services. He and the Boston Police Commissioner agreed that the BU Police would patrol the campus and be the primary law enforcement response agency for Boston University.

    At that time, Kenmore Square was not the destination it is today; it was dirty, unattractive, a gathering place for the sale and use of hard drugs, and simply not safe at night. Not much more could be said for most of the length of Commonwealth Avenue, and BU did not own the many small brownstones that are now residence halls on Bay State Road, or maintain most of the public streets in the area, as it does today. During the early 1970s, dozens of stranger rapes, arsons, and fatal drug overdoses occurred annually on campus, and Warren Towers was the location of “Free University,” where anyone off the street could crash and attend class. Most did not bother with the classes and there were a number of serious violent crimes committed against student residents, notably an incident of kidnapping in which female roommates were held hostage in their own room and were not missed for days.

    Commonwealth Avenue was the primary hunting ground for a serial killer who picked up hitchhiking students. In one case, a student was taken during the first week of classes and her roommate assumed she had just left school; almost a month later, her body was found by a hunter in a field in Nashua, NH.

    The BUPD with its sole commitment to the safety of the Boston University community was one of the major factors — in addition to the University’s acquisition of vacant and run-down buildings and others providing homes for prostitution, drug use and sales, and squatters — in transforming the Kenmore Square and BU campus to what it is today.

    Thanks to all the members, past and present, of the BUPD!

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  10. I greatly appreciate having the BUPD and I think they do a really good job. They are sort of like having a local town police department within a big city. I think their focus on the smaller sub-population of the university is a good thing. They cultivate a good relationship with staff, faculty and students so that they are helpful. I trust and would much rather deal with a BUPD than BPD any day.

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  11. Great article! Thank you for taking the time and sharing : ). I agree that University Police are the appropriate way to ensure the needs of the community are met. Specifically BU is its own city within a city which has its own community and specific needs requiring its own fully staffed, armed and trained police department. (and obviously the BUPD, like any other PD, handles criminal cases through the local courts, they have to because …. its the law and they have to, plus I’m pretty sure its monitored by an outside governing agency, the in-campus disciplinary hearings are just an added layer of protection for everybody(and discipline layer for those who did a naughty), not taking away from criminal responsibility of anybody.

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  12. The ONLY alternative to maintaining a BUPD is if the ‘replacement’ Boston PD continued to be funded by BU and it maintained the same station, staffing, and strategic, tactical, and operational assignment historically assigned to the BUPD. Don’t count on that happening any time soon.

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  13. Like with everything, there is a necessary balance. Is the BUPD perfect? Absolutely not. Are they useless? Certainly not. Instead of making dramatic decisions like whether to abolish them or not, let’s try to attack the things people see as faults one-by-one and try to make the BUPD better.

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  14. While I liked reading the article, and it was well written, it feels off when it is written by the “chief of the Boston University Police Department.” Not that one can’t have the opinion that campus police are necessary and be head of a campus police force, but that I would be surprised if one didn’t. The source is inherently bias. What else would the head of BUPD say? Having a different opinion could leave him out of a job.

    tl;dr good paper, but can’t you find someone else to say it?

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