The Emerald reported Monday that the University’s Department of Public Safety has violated Oregon law by purchasing and using vehicles with red and blue lights — a privilege allowed only to certified police officers. Does violating the law make DPS officers safer, as they claim? Maybe. Is it in the best interests of the campus community, as DPS also claims? Hardly. Are either of those claims a reasonable excuse for a public university to flout the law? Absolutely not. The lights should be removed.
Oregon Revised Statute 816.350 is clear on this issue — only police officers’ cars being used for law enforcement may have blue lights. And there is a good reason for this. When the public sees blue lights, they are supposed to be able to assume that a law enforcement officer is near. This serves an important purpose in society by giving warning to lawbreakers that law enforcement is nearby, and more importantly, by identifying an officer who may be able to help in cases of need.
Campus security cannot arrest anyone, and they don’t have guns. According to DPS Director Tom Fitzpatrick, campus security can detain criminals (as can any citizen who sees a crime occurring) and frisk people, but Fitzpatrick made clear that DPS prefers not to have physical contact and would only do so if a situation was threatening. However, DPS vehicles’ red and blue lights could confuse someone needing immediate assistance, and that situation could become dangerous as a result of the mix-up.
DPS officers say that the lights make them feel safer and in turn help them make the campus community feel safer. We can’t see how. Whether they mean to or not, the lights give campus security more of a tough-guy image in society. Police have the right to use potentially lethal force to stop criminals, and DPS is exploiting this image by using the vehicles.
By riding the bulletproof vest-tails of actual police officers, campus security is appearing to be more serious and more forceful than they are. This can’t be good for community relations — DPS is supposed to be providing the campus with a sense of peace. According to its mission statement, the role of DPS on campus is “providing a safe, secure and welcoming environment.”
Campus security should be defusing situations, helping community members who are locked out of their cars and making us all feel safer instead of threatened by their tough-cop image. Will having red and blue lights really make for better relations with students and visiting parents or football fans? If it does, it will only be out of a misguided fear that DPS has police power. They don’t have that power, and they shouldn’t.
What of the money the University is spending to lease these police cruisers? We realize that DPS needs to replace their aging fleet of patrol vans, and Fitzpatrick said that DPS is getting a good deal, but is leasing the best use of University funds? Why don’t they spend money to improve campus security in a positive fashion, such as adding lighting, placing more emergency boxes, heavily publicizing their evening safety escorts or starting a peaceful intervention service for intoxicated people on campus, similar to the city of Eugene’s CAHOOTS service?
There are ways to make our campus safer and more peaceful. Choosing red and blue lights for DPS vehicles only serves to further alienate the community from the officers hired to keep the peace. The Eugene Police Department may not be willing to issue citations for this law-breaking behavior, but we’re willing to cite the best interests of the community. Remove the lights.