Every Tufts student, faculty member, or employee, has most likely interacted with the Tufts University Police Department, better known as TUPD, in some form. If you’re lucky, you may have even met the TUPD comfort dogs, Pepper and Hayley, around campus. TUPD claims to be undertaking a process to revamp its focus on community-police relations. Through comfort dogs, campus engagement events such as Coffee with TUPD, and the Cultural Center Liaison Program, TUPD aims to break down barriers between the Tufts community and police officers. However, these barriers will remain intact as long as any portion of campus police is armed.
TUPD doesn’t need to carry weapons. Potentially dangerous situations are extremely uncommon on Tufts’ Medford/Somerville campus. The 2023 Tufts Public Safety Annual Security Report includes data on a variety of offenses from 2020 to 2022. During this three-year period, there were zero cases of murder, manslaughter, or robbery. There was one case of aggravated assault, 6 cases of motor vehicle theft, and 17 cases of burglary. In producing its report, the Working Group on TUPD Arming surveyed more than 150,000 calls for service made in the several years prior to 2022. Therefore, according to the data, the vast majority of situations addressed by TUPD did not require armed force. Arming TUPD for the small fraction of cases that do require an armed response is not a requisite for campus safety, as the local police force is more than capable of responding to these incidents.
An armed TUPD also has tangible drawbacks. Allowing TUPD to be armed will ultimately harm the relationship between campus police and the Tufts community due to the threatening nature and psychological impacts of guns that make those in their proximity feel less safe. A 1995 study published by the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology at the Northwestern School of Law found that 71 percent of Americans felt less safe when others in the community acquired firearms. This research indicates that the mere presence of guns in a community makes residents feel less secure.
Additionally, according to the Pew Research Center, 44% of US adults personally know someone who has been shot (either accidentally or intentionally), and 23% say they or someone in their family has been threatened or intimidated by someone wielding a gun. Members of the Tufts community who have trauma or negative associations with firearms may find it difficult to disentangle their past experiences from a gun in a TUPD officer’s holster. Those who have watched instances of police brutality recounted on national news may have also lost trust in the ability of police officers to use force rationally and equitably. Therefore, many community members will find officers more threatening if they are carrying weapons. An armed police force can also adversely affect the mental health and general well-being of campus residents.
These implications of an armed campus police force are even more consequential in the current socio-political climate. A 2022 Gallup poll found that only 45 percent of surveyed American adults were confident in the police, down from 48 percent after the 2020 murder of George Floyd. In light of the deteriorating confidence in law enforcement, improving the public’s perception of and relationship with the police is crucial for the effectiveness of police forces on a national scale.
While arming campus officers can become an intimidating presence that may further contribute to negative attitudes toward the police, universities can alternatively seize upon a rare opportunity to improve these impressions. College campuses are exceptionally safe, and as such provide a great setting to model positive officer-civilian relationships. If students trust and feel comfortable around the police force, they will be more likely to approach them with safety or other concerns. The TUPD would make themselves and the community feel like a safer space, both in college and beyond. Arming TUPD will actively stagnate efforts to construct this type of positive relationship and preclude Tufts from improving community-police relations.
Tufts must also consider the disparity in feelings toward police along racial lines. While 53% of white Americans reported high confidence in the police, only 30% of non-white Americans felt the same way. As a racially diverse institution that claims to be anti-racist and prides itself on supporting equity and inclusion, Tufts has a responsibility to ensure that students of color feel safe on campus. The reality is that people of color are more likely to feel threatened or unsafe in their interactions with police. This sentiment is not unfounded as black Americans are more likely to experience unfair treatment and violence at the hands of police officers. An armed TUPD will only exacerbate the distrust that students of color hold for law enforcement and make them feel disproportionately uncomfortable on campus.
The specter of violence cast by a firearm is something that no TUPD officer’s positive demeanor or amount of campus engagement can overcome. Only if TUPD is unarmed can students leave Tufts with a better perception of and more respect for police, thereby setting them up to positively and comfortably engage with their local officers in the future.
Photo by Tomás Gómez Revelo (September 15th 2024)