Campus Activities Board in association with numerous University of Central Florida organizations came together on Monday, Oct. 5 to host the Town Hall Meeting with UCF Police Department.
This event was the brainchild of Dom Harris, who wanted to put together this event to bridge the gap between students and officers.
“A lot of people have been keeping up with the police brutality and getting kind of nervous relations with the cops, so I just wanted to come out and do whatever I could to help people communicate with them and realize that cops aren’t scary, they’re here to help us out and keep us safe,” Harris said.
During the event officers informed students about the goals of UCFPD.
Currently, UCFPD has 71 officers on staff and plans to increase to 90 officers in the future.
These officers are all taught “de-escalation” when handling the various situations that they may encounter.
De-escalation is a way of dealing with students that reduces conflict.
Throughout the meeting, all the officers spoke about respect.
Officers said respect is fundamental when dealing with the police both on and off campus.
“Anytime we go up to a confrontation it is an armed conflict, potentially bad things can happen,” officer Pete Stephens said at the meeting.
“We want to give everyone the opportunity to comply,” Deputy Chief Brett Meade said.
The officer explained that officers do not want to have a conflict with students.
Going along with the topic of respect, students at the event were very curious about the do’s and don’ts when dealing with the police.
One officer, Officer Joel Whiterspoon gave advice to students in regards to routine traffic stops.
“Do not allow officers to search your car. Say yes sir, no sir but all you must do is present your license insurance and registration [at a routine traffic stop],” Witherspoon said.
The reason behind this advice is because if the officer were to find drugs or weapons in the car, the car owner will be held responsible, even though it may not be the car owner’s possessions.
After the officers’ presentation, students were given the opportunity to ask their own questions.
Many students used this time to ask the officers hypothetical questions about what they must do in traffic stops or in general when talking with the police.
After the event, I asked Officers Stephan’s and Officer Meade about a few more concerns students have about the police and UCF.
On the Facebook group, Town Hall Meeting with UCF Police page, a parent posted, “Please tell the UCF police and personnel they must provide proper lighting for the kids! !!!!!!!… My daughter is scared when she leaves for her car … after class. . it gets dark at 6pm now.”
When asked about the post Stephens said, “Well the university has actually done an active survey of the entire campus, and it meets pedestrian safety standards and we are in the process and are working on improving the lighting in each quadrant.”
Meade commented on the lighting issue bringing up off campus housing and said, “there has always been a problem with lighting in the off campus Greek Community and the Board of County Commissioners is going to be installing lights in that area.”
Stephens also commented on the effect the recent bar checks and said,
“Anytime you have an officer present you are going to have a decrease in crime this (the bar inspections) is what it facilitates, so there has been, at least on campus a decrease of medical for alcohol consumption.”
UCF student Bridget Dixon said, “I’ve gone to Library and Pub I haven’t been there when there was a raid, but I’ve been there when there was police outside, and they actually helped me. One of my friends was drunk and I couldn’t control her, we were trying to get her home and they helped us get her in the car and we didn’t get in any trouble so I had a very good experience here.”
When asked what he hoped students would take away from this meeting tonight Stephens said, “Basically the police are not your enemies, we are here to protect you and we are doing everything we can to keep you safe, and the most important thing is our staff and our students safety from a police department standpoint we are on it 24/7, and if you have any suggestions or any information you can provide we are always happy to accept it and make improvements if we can.”
