UPD's plan to get involved on campus
- Park, walk and talk: Cops park their cars, walk through campus and talk to students while patrolling.
- Trivia: UPD officers walk through Woodworth Complex and reward students for answering trivia questions
- Lunch: Students can have lunch with officers.
Students will see more police officers around campus, but they may not necessarily be there to stop crime.
Officers will attend community events and patrol on foot around campus in an effort to help create a bond with the community they are protecting, the university’s new acting police chief Jim Duckham said.
“We are totally into being part of the community and being viewed as a member of the community as a whole not just a police department,” Duckham said. “I think students are recognizing that we are there to be more a part of the community instead of an officer riding around in a car that is not approachable.”
Duckham took over as police chief when former chief Gene Burton left this summer.
Fostering community relationships is something Duckham has been passionate about for many years. He had previously created a community outreach force in New York when he worked as an officer.
Duckham sat on the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies’ yearly panel Tuesday as part of his drive to have more interaction with students. The event focused on changing views about police in response to the death of Michael Brown and subsequent protests in Ferguson, Mo.
“The time to build relationships is before the crisis,” he said at Tuesday’s panel.
The panel also included Yvonne Thompson, director of the Muncie Human Rights Office, and Keith Overall, a member of the Ethnic Theatre Alliance from Ferguson.
The panel mostly focused on ways to repair the negative image some people of color have of police departments.
“There is a lack of respect on both sides,” Thompson said about police and the community they serve.
Duckham echoed Thompson’s thoughts, saying police should understand that those who are being stopped by police aren’t going to be happy about it, and they should respect their rights. However, those who come in contact with police need to remember that they are people too, not just a uniform trying to ruin their day, he added.
A lack of diversity on police forces also adds to the problem, Thompson said.
“[Police forces must] make the effort to be more diverse because you come across as the group in power,” Thompon said, which could lead underrepresented minorities to feel oppressed by police forces that don’t reflect their community.
UPD is taking efforts to be better at recruiting a diverse community, Duckham said.
Duckham announced a new program at the discussion wherein students can have lunch with University Police officers and get to know them outside the uniform.
“It's the whole kind of concept of ‘park, walk and talk,’” he said. “It's to get people out talking to officers in a relaxed atmosphere.”
But the perception Duckham is looking to change is fairly strong, he said, joking that when an officer walks through a campus building everyone turns to look because they expect someone to get in trouble.
“How do I change that perception that when you see a police officer walking in the residence hall, that it's not automatically a negative,” Duckham asked.
He isn’t unwilling to try, though, as an effort a UPD officer will walk through Woodworth Complex Thursday with the residence hall director asking students trivia questions and rewarding candy for correct answers, Duckham said.
The police force can only do so much, Thompson said, and it's up to the community to elect officials and protect their rights from lawmakers by attending city council meetings and voting.
“Everyone here can do something to make a positive change,” Thompson said. “Everybody has a voice, your voice may not be that loud but someone needs to hear it.”
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