Tim McKinney, father of late 21-year-old Ball State student Michael McKinney, is pushing to remove guns from University Police officers after a rookie officer shot and killed his son.
"The question of whether campus police officers need guns has to be looked at honestly," McKinney said. "The kind of students that are at Ball State don't pose that kind of threat to the university. Michael sure didn't."
While rookie officer Robert Duplain was responding to a 911 call on West North Street, he fatally shot fourth-year student Michael McKinney four times; one shot hit him in the head, the other three in the chest.
At the time of the shooting, Duplain had not yet attended the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy and was not trained to use non-lethal weapons like pepper spray.
McKinney said he talked to President Blaine A. Brownell in December about his campaign to disarm campus police officers.
"I told Brownell that he has not taken this far enough," McKinney said. "I would find it hard to believe that day in and day out, the kind of situations (the campus police) face require deadly force," he said.
McKinney said Brownell made a reference to other campuses in Indiana who have armed police officers.
"He didn't really acknowledge my question," McKinney said. "If guns are needed on Ball State's campus, then Ball State is not the kind of university they want people to believe it is," he said.
Douglas McConkey, vice president for student affairs, said he was aware of McKinney's desire to take guns away from campus police officers.
The university has discussed the issue on several occasions over the years but has not entertained a formal proposal to do so, he said.
"Removing guns from police officers is effective in terms of trying to maximize safety on campus for students, faculty and staff," McConkey said. "But with a university as large and complex as ours, it's best to have fully trained and regular police officers rather than a security force."
McConkey said having guns on campus is essential, as Ball State's police department works collaboratively with the Muncie Police Department. Without guns, the Ball State police would have to rely more on Muncie police, he said.
However, McKinney said guns have no place on a college campus.
"Officers should instead be trained to use non-lethal weapons like stun guns, night sticks and pepper spray and to have the judgment to know what to use in those situations," McKinney said.
Since the shooting, the university has made changes to some of its police departmental policies and procedures. For example, rookie officers will no longer patrol without experienced officers.
When Duplain completes his 15 weeks of training at the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy, he will assume a non-patrol position at Ball State; however, since Duplain will still be considered a police officer, he will be allowed to carry a gun, McConkey said.
"Duplain is still at the university," McKinney said. "If I were the parent of a student there, I would be very concerned."
"I would hope other people are concerned about the presence of deadly force on a university campus in Indiana," he said.
McConkey said Ball State is in the process of gathering information from similar universities to help decide whether campus police officers should keep their guns.
He said a major factor in the decision is that a third of students live on campus while the other two-thirds live off campus or commute.
"A large university like ours is like a city in its complexity," McConkey said. "Dealing with safety issues on campus is like dealing with safety issues in a medium-sized city."
McKinney said having guns on campus is the most important question for the university to address in the aftermath of his son's death.
"The university needs to consider the question so other students are not put in harm's way and suffer the same fate Michael suffered," McKinney said.
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