How would you feel if police officers became a familiar sight in the dorm hallways when you were on your way to the community bathroom?
Washington State University students know the feeling all too well since the police often conducted random patrols in their dorm hallways. Those feelings might have since passed, now that a Washington Court of Appeals recently ruled that officers no longer have the legal authority to perform random patrols.
The ruling is in regards to an incident that occurred in one of the WSU residence halls when an officer was investigating a burglary on Feb. 11, 2006.
After overhearing loud music and suspicious conversation in one of the rooms, the officer tried to trick the students into opening the door. When they refused, he identified himself as a police officer and ordered the students to open the door. Although stolen items were found in the room and one of the occupants was charged with burglary, the charges were dropped after a judge ruled that the items were unlawfully obtained.
Luckily, community policing is as far as the MSU police has gone.
The purpose of MSU’s program is to keep police officers actively engaged and involved with what’s going on in the residence halls. The police are divided into four different groups where they spend time each week walking through the residence halls, eating lunch in the cafeterias and checking up with students and staff.
Most MSU students might agree that community policing is the best way for police to maintain a good relationship.
With the stigma attached to communicating with the police, students might not call them if illegal activity occurs. If they do, it could create animosity among floormates.
When students realize that police are making an effort to get involved in their lives and only trying to make their living experience more pleasant, it might help peel away their “big, bad wolf” image. Students might become more comfortable talking with the police, and if a problem occurs, they might not be as hesitant when calling the police.
In the case of WSU, police might have gotten a little too comfortable in the residence halls and that’s when they began to overstep their boundaries.
There is a difference between investigating a crime and seeking out criminal activity. When the police do things as extreme as eavesdropping on students’ conversations and sniffing underneath doors to seek out drugs, it can break down any trust students had. It defeats the purpose of building a stable relationship.
Before police are put in the field to build community ties, they should be screened to make sure they are qualified for the task. The police that are placed on patrol should be able to gain the trust of people without getting too friendly, and they should know how to handle themselves if and when a situation gets heated.
Having a police presence in the dorms might cut down on some of the illegal activity taking place, but it can also create more problems if police decide to abuse their power.
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