The new Student Support Division at the MSU Department of Police and Public Safety sounds as if it has the potential to be a positive bridge in the relationship between police and students.
But we fear the new division may end up being nothing more than lip service - another wedge in the relationships among members of the MSU community.
The police department announced the creation of its newest division Monday during a meeting of the Task Force on Student-Police Relations.
The task force was put together by MSU officials after an independent investigation into the placement of an undercover officer into the student group United Students Against Sweatshops, now called Students For Economic Justice.
The task force is expected to make recommendations addressing education, safety and minority issues on campus as they pertain to student-police relations.
During the past few years, student-police relations on campus have been less than ideal. It’s been a rocky relationship fueled by communication breakdowns.
The Student Support Division is being marketed as a liaison between police and student groups, a piece in a puzzle that will help the department and student organizations work together instead of not at all.
By no means is this new division going to solve all the problems that exist between students and police. No quick fix can mend years of misunderstanding.
While students are not faultless in this disagreeable relationship, MSU police hold the key to unlock the road to recovery.
If MSU leaders continue to pull the same public relations spin moves they have after past relationship breakdowns, committees with fancy names only will fall by the wayside and accomplish nothing. The cycle will never be broken, and problems like these will continue to occur every four years.
If things are going to change, the university needs to give authority to committees, such as the Task Force on Student-Police Relations, to address problems. Its recommendations should enact policy changes rather than become just another opinion.
While it may not want to, MSU police are going to have to be the ones to bite the bullet and do the footwork to fix the problems.
MSU police Capt. Ken Hall, who is charged with leading the new division, must become an advocate for student concerns within the department instead of an advocate within the department for the department.
The 21-year MSU police veteran has been on medical leave for the past two years, and he will have to work hard to get in touch after all that has occurred in his absence.
This new post can be a step toward a positive future. We urge the MSU police not to let it become another piece of propaganda used to make the department look good.
