Committee Member Trustees' External affairs

University Trustees quizzed University Police Commissioner John Kuprevich about crime last week and even discussed the possibility of putting a wall around the University to prevent criminals from entering. In one exchange at the Trustees External Affairs committee meeting, Trustee Carol Einiger asked if a low brick wall marking where campus starts and ends is a possibility. She said some schools, like the University of Southern California, have such walls. Kuprevich said he thought the idea was not consistent with the University's stated policy for working with the community. He also said his department is trying to prevent crime not only on campus, but also to create a buffer zone in surrounding neighborhoods. But Trustees did not seem to entirely agree. "I don't think we should cling to the romantic idea that we are a free and open campus when we spend 90 percent of each Trustees meeting speaking about crime," one Trustee said. Committee members told Kuprevich that they felt it was appropriate to review the policy of having an open campus. Trustees also pressed Kuprevich about the use of plainclothes police officers in the streets surrounding the University, suggesting that uniformed officers might be more of a deterrent. Kuprevich said in one case a plainclothes officer tailed a suspect and watched him enter a building and then flee moments later. He said the officer then found out he had just mugged a woman in the building so police chased the man and arrested him. While the Trustees were basically supportive, one pointed out that the woman could have been killed while the police waited outside. "So is your primary objective prevention or apprehension?" Einiger asked Kuprevich. The commissioner said there is not one answer and the department is trying to put more police on the streets and increase education. "Is it going to absolutely protect us against having a tragedy?" Kuprevich asked rhetorically and shook his head. "There is nothing we can do." But one professor attending the meeting commended Kuprevich and his police force. "It seems to me that what you are doing is a balance between prevention and apprehension," said History and Sociology of Science Professor Nathan Sivin, the faculty liason to the committee. Kuprevich also explained in detail that crimes will be reported differently for the University community and for crime statistics required by the state and federal governments. Because the border of campus is hard to define and University police officers patrol to 43rd Street, Kuprevich said reports to the community are being expanded to include crimes against University affiliates on local streets. The statistics the University will release to others will only include on-campus crimes, as mandated by law. Assistant Vice President for University Relations Carol Farnsworth said her office is distributing press kits to local media about the crime education programs at the University.

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