Ball State will announce changes to its police training programand enhancements to alcohol abuse programs at a news conferencetoday, more than a month after a University Police officer shot andkilled a student.
The announcement will be made at 10:30 a.m. at the L.A.Pittenger Student Center. Dean of Students Randy Hyman, AssociateDirector of University Relations Glenn Augustine and UniversityPolice Chief Gene Burton all refused to comment on the details ofthe changes.
Currently, Burton said, officers are required to participate ina 40-hour orientation course and a field-training program.
The Ball State community has been clamoring for answers andaction since Michael S. McKinney was shot four times and killed inmid-November by officer Robert Duplain. Duplain had been respondingto a burglary call at a house on North Street and found McKinneypounding on windows in the backyard. Burton said Duplain shot atMcKinney after the student ran at the officer and wouldn't stopwhen told.
Duplain, who is now on administrative leave, had only sevenmonths of experience at the University Police Department -- theonly law enforcement agency he has worked for. He has not yetattended the Indiana Police Academy. He was scheduled to beginattending in January.
A week after the shooting, Burton said Ball State should keepits non-certified officers because cutting them would create ashortage in campus patrol.
The alcohol culture at Ball State has also been questioned bycommunity members. McKinney, who had been at Village bars the nightbefore he was killed, had a blood alcohol count of 0.34 more than10 hours after he died. The legal limit is 0.08.
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