PVCC Puma Press: December 2002

Tragedy happens in unexpected moments and changes lives, sometimes forever.

A drunken husband, brandishing a gun, can wander onto a community college campus looking for his estranged wife. A young thief, prying a music system from a vehicle in a community college parking lot, could pull a gun if startled by a Safety officer.

Tragedy did strike in October when a 45-year-old college student, disgruntled with his grades and life, carried five handguns onto the U of A campus and murdered three college professors, then committed suicide.

These are real and potential violent situations that have led to debates between College Safety officers and administrators about whether to allow officers to carry guns on campus. Both groups see the gun issue differently, yet both sides are focused on providing safe campuses. Will it take a real-life act of violence to settle the issue?

On Nov. 7, directors of College Safety throughout the MCCCD District submitted a position paper to the Governing Board clearly stating that College Safety officers be allowed to carry firearms.

The position paper entitled, "Arming Campus Police Officers”, was signed by all the College Safety directors. They indicated the position paper was a reflection of three major concerns: a growing trend to more violence on campuses, potential legal liabilities created by the increasing inability to protect the campus communities and growing difficulties in hiring qualified safety officers.

According to Wilfred McFadden, director of College Safety at Phoenix College, these concerns revolve around the issue of arming officers.

"The position of the directors of College Safety is that all College Safety officers employed by the district be armed," says McFadden. "For us to adequately protect our campuses, its simply the right thing to do."

The position paper makes a number of salient points in building a case for arming safety officers.

Safety officers are in full police uniforms, equipped with handcuffs, an expandable baton, and chemical pepper spray. They are, however, not armed.
When unarmed, safety officers are unequipped to defend themselves against a suspect’s use of deadly force, since batons and pepper spray are no defense against a firearm or edged weapon.
Directors feel strongly that additional equipment in the form of firearms, placed in the hands of their highly trained Police Officers, could save lives.
All safety officers are Arizona Peace Officers Standards and Training (APOST) Board certified, the same certification as police officers.
Safety officers average 15 years of prior police experience and 70 percent have college degrees. The average Arizona municipal police officer has three years of experience.
275,000 students and over 10,000 faculty and staff make up the campus communities. It is natural to assume that some will bring their personal and emotional problems onto campuses.
District campuses are open to the community, adding the potential of exposing students, faculty, and staff to an additional number of potentially violent people.

Scott Meek, director of College Safety at PVCC feels people have many misconceptions when it comes to guns and safety officers.

"I had one of the PVCC staff come up to me and ask me in amazement, "You don’t carry guns?" says Meek.

PVCC College Safety Officer Paul Keller also feels the campus community has misconceptions about College Safety officers.

"People think we can deal with violent situations, but if we’re confronted with an armed and violent offender, we would most likely have to back away from the danger and call the properly equipped local law enforcement officers," says Keller.

College Safety officers are concerned that in the minutes it would take officers to respond to a violent situation, innocent lives could be lost, lives that could possibly be saved if District safety officers were armed.

And their fears appear reasonable. According to 2002 statistics released by the Phoenix Police Department, response times to 911 calls have risen from 4:42 in 1998 to 5:12 in 2001.

"We take the responsibility of maintaining safe campus environments seriously, and our position of arming safety officers flows from that concern and responsibility," says McFadden.

Currently, PVCC staffs two APOST certified College Safety officers, three non-certified safety officers, who are recognizable by their maroon shirts and a number of temporary College Safety personal who wear white shirts.

"It’s important that our campus community realize that only APOST certified officers would be allowed to carry guns," says Meek. "Right now we have two open positions for APOST trained officers because we can’t find qualified people willing to take the job under the current limitations."

To address the issue of officers carrying guns, the MCCCD board held an open meeting on May 28. Four citizens spoke to the board: Wilfred McFadden, director of College Safety at Phoenix College; Debra Palok, director of College Safety at Glendale College; Charles Summers, director of College Safety at Estrella Mountain College and George Richards, City of Phoenix Police department’s South Mountain Precinct Commander.

At the meeting, the board considered a motion to maintain the current practice that College Safety employees of the Maricopa Community College District not be permitted to carry firearms or similar weapons in the course of duty.

Wilfred McFadden summarized the reasons for arming officers: to allow officers to adequately protect our campus communities; it’s the politically correct thing to do, since during the 2004 bond campaign the public will want to know why we hire officers and them inadequately equip them and finally, it’s simply the right thing to do.

Debra Palok addressed the issues of preparedness and liability.

"In view of the increased violence in today's society, prevention and preparation should be our focus," said Palok.

She also said although weapons may not be necessary, liability is another area of concern, and indicated that Ruth Unks, MCCCD risk manager, has gone on record as stating that, "MCCCD is more at risk by not arming."

Charles Summers spoke to the board and pointed out two pertinent facts about increasing crime in the Phoenix community: in 2001 the city of Phoenix had its highest rate of homicides and Arizona State University led the nation in on-campus weapons arrests.

"We are a critical incident waiting to happen and still choose to be reactive rather than proactive,"said Summers.

Summers also reminded the board that ASU, ASU West, UA, NAU, Pima Community College, Yavapai College in Prescott, Central Community College and many high schools in the area allow their safety officers to carry guns on campus.

The final speaker was George Richards, who trained the first MCCCD safety officers to qualify for APOST certification in 1996.

"Ladies and gentleman of the board, your current gun policy is wrong, irresponsible and will cost you in your conscience and in your pocketbooks if you don’t change it," said Richards.

Richards told the board that in 27 years of police work he had never fired his gun in the line of duty.

"However, if I was asked by my chief to serve one day without my firearm, I would tender my resignation immediately," said Richards.

The five-member board then discussed their positions on the gun issue. Both Nancy Stein and Linda Rosenthal said they favor allowing safety officers to carry guns because the times call for proactive measures to protect our campus communities. Board member Donald Campbell commented, "I don’t see how arming officers is going to solve any problems." Campbell said that six years ago someone carrying a gun murdered his son, but even that incident has not changed his mind about believing that guns don’t have a place on our campuses.

Edward Contreras felt that the College Safety officers had not made a convincing case for guns on campus.

"Putting guns in the hands of officers simply escalates the issue, and will encourage people to come onto our campuses with guns," said Contreras.

Gene Eastin agreed with Contreras and added, "our presence on campuses is meant to educate students and not guard prisoners, and guns will not solve the problems occurring on our campuses."

Board member Eastin asked MCCCD President Fred Gaskin to express his feelings before a vote was taken.

"I have great respect for the work that all the College Safety officers perform, and I have given a tremendous amount of thought to this issue … my recommendation to the board is that the firearms policy not be changed," said Gaskin.

Linda Rosenthal, sensing that a vote would go 3-2 against allowing guns on campus, called for tabling the motion, meaning the vote would be set aside until further feedback could be gathered from MCCCD employee groups, students and college administrators.

Surprisingly, the vote to table the motion was 3-2 in favor. Edward Contreras voted with Rosenthal and Stein to table the vote even though he is opposed to guns on campus.

The board is now in the process of gathering additional feedback through surveys and email distributed throughout the District.

PVCC President Gina Kranitz says she realizes the difficulty everyone has in deciding this issue. She has spoken to fellow presidents across the nation that have officers who carry guns, and those that do not, and it’s difficult to say if people on campuses feel safer if their officers carry guns.

"The issue of officers carrying guns is a very difficult and emotional decision to be made by the governing board and by the chancellor," says Kranitz. "The issues from both the pro and con groups are very compelling. At PVCC, we will work with whatever decision is made."