A new group of MSU law enforcement officers, administrators, students and community members hopes to establish a trustworthy relationship between police and minorities.
The new Strategy Team for Police-Minority Trust, which was set up by the MSU Department of Police and Public Safety, will aim at developing methods to improve communication between police and minority students.
MSU police Chief Bruce Benson said the strategy team was created to confront the recent concerns that have surfaced between the police department and minority students.
“I see some issues on campus this year with trust issues between police and minorities and that deserves some extra attention,” he said. “I’m going to people whose advice I trust and respect for good ideas to visibly improve the situation.”
While the MSU police department has a campus-wide Community Advisory Committee that meets once a month, the strategy team will focus specifically on race-related issues and issues such as racial profiling and traffic stops.
The strategy meetings, which are not open to the public, have not yet been scheduled.
Benson said discussing these issues is crucial in making the department as effective as possible.
“We want to be successful as a police agency and we want people to feel safe and comfortable in coming to us,” he said. “We can’t do that with mistrust going back and forth.”
Lee June, vice president for Student Affairs and Services, said he looks forward to seeing what solutions the strategy team can devise.
“I hope that since this is such a diverse group of students, faculty, staff and community members, that there will be a greater insight into how the community views (MSU police) and a better understanding of how the department works,” said June, who is on the team. “I also hope that this will further improve the relationship between DPPS and the student population in particular.”
The strategy team’s final report is scheduled to be released to the public by the end of January. It will contain recommendations for improvements, and Benson said he hopes the report will contain at least 10 strategies that would become effective immediately after their release.
Other strategy team members include Black Student Alliance President Tonya Upthegrove; Paulette Granberry Russell, the director of affirmative action and monitoring at MSU and Geneva Smith, director of the Lansing NAACP.
Seven others, including four representatives from MSU police, are part of the committee.
Interdisciplinary studies in humanities freshman Krystal Barnes, who is black, said the team’s recommendations are needed on campus.
“I’ve been at situations where the relations between police and students aren’t good,” she said. “You see parties all the time on campus that aren’t geared toward minority students and you won’t see any police.
“But if there’s a minority party, you’ll see plenty of cops swarming around. So, I think this is a very good thing.”
