Acorn

Issue date: 2/22/08 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: Desiree Hykes

"Man, I hate P. Safety." How many times have you heard that on campus? Most, if not all, of my friends have had a bad experience with Public Safety. Lately, it feels like Public Safety has turned into a bunch of bloated egotists who believe their job is to be tyrants over the students. They drive around randomly questioning students that they feel are "being suspicious." Since when did Public Safety turn into actual police officers? I'm sorry, I don't mean to insult the people helping us on campus, but that's all they are. Men and women, whose jobs are to help the students, not scare them to death.

I know most people have had their own run-ins with Public Safety. I have too. While some might enjoy it, I don't appreciate being locked out of Brother's College when I need to get to the basement and do my job on a cold Sunday night. But OK, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt?maybe something big came up. You know, like a transport on a Sunday night. It could happen.

So once they finally do arrive, leaving me in the freezing cold for about 30 minutes and my shift partner even longer who had arrived an hour earlier, do we get a nice warm smile? No. What we get is attitude from someone who should have done their job in the first place. What were they doing? Chasing down kids supposedly smoking pot in the woods?

I know I sound one-sided. Not all Public Safety officers are total jerks. I've been met with smiles outside while Public Safety go in and out of dorms. Who hasn't had that fun conversation with an officer when you were drunk and felt like having a chat?

However, that was the feeling last year, when they knew that you weren't doing anything dumb outside. Now, if you look drunk, you can get carted away to be questioned. The change seemed to happen with new officers coming in with grandiose notions that they were going to bust parties and kids out doing tons of drugs. We all know Drew is a pretty liberal school when it comes to alcohol. If you look at some other schools, you'll find that almost all of them are skittish when it comes to parties. Anyone who has been anywhere near the Suites on a weekend knows that it isn't the same here. Why is it that Public Safety cruises around the townhouses and HERB circle looking for trouble and completely forgets Tolley-Brown circle? I'm not trying to get the Suites in trouble?it's just that Public Safety is being hypocritical. They come running into Baldwin about a "noise complaint" and bust a party, while I can hear music from the Suites drifting down towards the Aztec stairs. How about Public Safety gets some set standards and get over themselves?

Continued...

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