Binghamton University students are putting out a request: Don’t tase us, bros.
Five months after police shocked a University of Florida student with a Taser, colleges like Binghamton University and nearby Broome Community College are still discussing the need for Tasers or the use of force on campuses.
The Experimental Media Organization and its sub-groups, including the Student Action Collective, hosted a Town Hall meeting last night about Tasers on campus. Forum organizers wanted to inform BU students about the prevalence of Tasers on universities across the country, including BU.
Basheer Bergus, of SAC, said before the event that one of the major points to be discussed was that the administration had not notified students before arming Binghamton’s New York State University Police with Tasers.
“I don’t blame the police,” Bergus said. “I blame the administration for allowing it to happen without communicating with the student body.”
EMO members also hoped to strengthen their own arguments while discussing the opposing arguments of the presence and use of Tasers both on and off campus.
“Students don’t realize how dangerous these [Tasers] are,” Bergus said. “They need to be aware of whose interests are being served when police become more militarized.”
The different arguments were based on quotes from a variety of sources, including Amnesty International and the United Nations Committee against Torture.
“My opinions don’t represent the group as a whole,” Bergus said. “There will be a lot of opinions there.”
The town hall meeting comes just after BCC officials announced their decision to arm their security “peace officers” with handguns.
“Security has always been a topic of discussion,” said Joe O’Connor, director of campus safety at BCC. “Enhancing college safety has been an ongoing evaluation even before the Virginia Tech and NIU shootings.”
In 2003, New York state passed legislation allowing community colleges to hire peace officers instead of security guards. BCC did not immediately arm these peace officers, although other community colleges in New York did.
One of the major differences between BU’s police officers and BCC’s peace officers is training.
According to O’Connor, BCC peace officers train for about 400 hours and undergo an additional 80 hours of instruction for firearms.
BU’s officers are New York state policemen who must complete more than 1,000 hours of training at the New York State Police Academy. After training, University police are armed with equipment such as Tasers, handguns, pepper spray and batons.
According to Deputy Chief of Police Timothy Faughnan, training and arming officers is done for the students.
“We want to ensure the students that we are here, protecting the community of Binghamton University,” Faughnan said.
With the recent school shootings, campus security is an issue of growing importance on college campuses around the country.
According to O’Connor, firearms aren’t the only aspect of campus safety students should be aware of.
“Firearms are only one component of an overall program for enhancing safety, and it’s unfortunate that it gets so much attention,” he said.