26 students show for Police Forum

The Student Government Association, Police Department, and campus officials hosted a forum and debate Wednesday, October 31, focusing primarily on security and parking issues.
The forum, broken into two segments, addressed safety, checkpoint, traffic and parking, and a survey issued by the SGA.
Winston Jackson, the SGA director of Traffic and Parking, gave the results of the random three – question survey taken September 26.
“Many students complain that police officers give them a hard time,” said Jackson.
The majority of students felt safety was fair, while the performance of traffic and parking officers was considered to be poor.
The second part of the forum, a question and answer period gave students a chance to communicate directly with the police department.
SGA President Avery Wilson served as a mediator.
Students at the forum said there have been numerous improvements in campus security such as better lighting, more patrol officers and call boxes, but the protection from the actual officers is still lacking.
“The biggest part of stopping crime on this campus is the student body. You all have more eyes out there than we do,” said SUPD Sgt. Maurrice Allen.
Most of the students at the forum were greatly concerned with the recent spree of car vandalism. There have been 44 car vandalisms reported this semester and 25 of them occurred in one night.
“It would make me feel safer as a student if I saw police officers outside of the SUPD cars and in the parking lots,” said senior music major Sean Anthony Williams.
In response to that statement, Kevin Johnson, Director of Traffic and Parking, said that in order to help with this problem they’ve coordinated the schedules of dorm and patrol officers so that students will have better coverage and protection across the campus.
Johnson also pointed out that 200-300 spaces go unused and students choose to park on Harding instead. Beginning Monday, November 5, the widening of Harding Blvd. will prevent students from parking on the shoulder of the road.