最新蜜桃影像

The police department on the campus of George Washington University has started arming its police officers, and students are either unhappy with the decision or unaware it鈥檚 happening.聽

Chief James Tate and Captain Gabe Mullinax, two George Washington Police Department officers, have been armed since the beginning of the school year. GWPD plans for additional supervisors to be armed in phases as requirements are met, according to GWPD鈥檚 website.聽

GWPD and the university declined to comment on the matter.聽

Around campus, students seem to be divided into two camps. Either they protested the university’s announcement in April, or they were completely clueless about GW actively arming officers and their plan to eventually arm all officers on campus.聽

Several students declined to comment on the arming of officers because they didn鈥檛 realize it was happening and were uninformed.

鈥淚 feel like it kind of just got sprung upon us, I don鈥檛 even remember hearing anything before it got released,鈥� said Zachary Vargo, a junior at GW. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 hear that they were deciding about that or that the decision was possibly going to be made and then it just felt like they announced it and a good portion of the student body was upset about it.鈥�

The decision was already made for students, said Trinity Vo, a sophomore at GW.聽

鈥淚 feel like I just kind of heard about it and that鈥檚 that,鈥� she said.聽

Ella Krone, a sophomore at GW, said she felt that the decision was made behind closed doors. Krone protested back in April, with a large portion of the student body, because she felt an obligation as a white woman to speak out to protect students that the decision potentially harms the most.

鈥淚 think with GWPD, the only interactions they鈥檝e had with any kind of violence used was almost exclusively with men of color, and they鈥檙e the ones that are most likely to be shot if GW police were to be armed,鈥� Krone said.

The school buried the announcement in the middle of a lengthy block of text in an email sent to students in April titled 鈥榬eimagining public safety鈥� at GW.鈥�

In May, 219 GW faculty members signed , who made the decision to arm campus officers.

The letter said, 鈥淭he April 13 announcement presents the decision as final, then purports to聽invite 鈥渇eedback鈥� concerning an 鈥渋mplementation plan鈥� that will be considered by the Board 鈥渓ater this spring,鈥� leaving very little time for community input and leaving us doubtful that there is real interest in considering our views. This is not consistent with a collegial atmosphere and the value of shared governance, and makes community members feel as if the University leadership and the Board of Trustees lack respect for faculty and student views or judgments.鈥�

Some students agreed that guns were the least of the university鈥檚 worries in terms of campus safety. A few female students said they often felt unsafe at night, and that campus police have done nothing to address the issue.

The university has been obsessed with debating implementing guns on campus, rather than the general safety of students on campus, said Jenna Ross, a GW student.聽

鈥淎s a female walking alone at night, I don鈥檛 feel the safest on campus, and I鈥檝e had multiple altercations with several different men on campus that have made me scared,鈥� she said.聽

Vo said she also felt unsafe at night.聽

鈥淚 feel like there鈥檇 be times where you鈥檙e walking late at night, and you鈥檙e alone too sometimes, and just being a woman in a city at night is scary anywhere,鈥� Vo said.聽

shows that crime in ANC 2A, where GW is located, is up compared to last year, with about 310 incidents last year, and 370 incidents to date this year. However, it鈥檚 been an increase primarily in theft and robbery, not violent crimes.

There are no homicides to date in the area and assaults with a dangerous weapon are down 33% in comparison to the same time last year.

Some students say they feel even more unsafe with campus officers armed, especially in the context of protests happening in the city regarding the war between Israel and Hamas.聽

鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely been a sense of feeling unsafe because there’s a lot of police presence with the protests,鈥� Krone said.

Councilmember Brooke Pinto鈥檚 office and ANC Commissioner Dasia Bandy did not respond to calls seeking comment.聽

Students also noted that there are a plethora of other armed police in the area.

鈥淚f there was a need for any gun I feel like by that time there鈥檇 be Metropolitan police coming,鈥� Vargo said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 Metropolitan police all over the place in the area, it鈥檚 not just campus police here.鈥�

Around Foggy Bottom, there are Metropolitan Police, Metro Police, Secret Service, U.S. Park Police, and now armed GW Police. An MPD spokesperson who declined to be named said MPD will continue to police the area the same as before, and GW is within the department鈥檚 jurisdiction.

Other universities in D.C. like Catholic University and Howard University have armed public safety officers on campus for the past several years, with Catholic finishing fully arming officers this August.聽

ANC 1E, which includes Howard, has more overall incidents than the area around GWs. ANC 1E has had 556 overall incidents to date, compared to the 368 incidents to date in ANC 2A. ANC 5A, where Catholic is located, has had about the same amount of incidents to date as in ANC 2A.

However, GW, which is near the White House, the State Department, other government agencies, and the National Mall, is a much more highly policed area.聽