Sometimes, as a college student, you come across things you can’t explain. Whether it’s Oprah’s weight gain/loss, how much that kid from your discussion section can drink and still be coherent the next day, or how unknowingly cruel your teaching assistants can be when they call on you in class, there will always be something that will make you sit back and scratch your head for lack of understanding.

I had this happen recently, after seeing two Binghamton University police officers in the parking lot across from the Old University Union, hanging out in the dark together playing solitaire in that new Dodge Charger BU bought for reasons I still don’t understand. (Have there ever been any high-speed pursuits on campus in BU’s history?) I hung around and watched for a while in disbelief, not only because two police officers were being paid to chill in a car, waste gas and play solitaire, but also that it took two police officers to be able to play, apparently.

About two weeks later there was a mugging on the pedestrian bridge where it was reported that four men mugged a BU student walking to her car after her classes at the University Downtown Center, a building that the BU police supposedly patrols. I couldn’t help but wonder to myself where those BU police officers were then? Playing Internet poker, perhaps?

I’m not being some killjoy saying that the police should be always working their absolute hardest ‘ I mean, everyone’s human. But seriously, how much time do you want to bet they’re spending NOT working when they’re on the job? And more important, could they be spending that time patrolling the areas surrounding the new Downtown Center?

I understand that BU’s campus is more or less a safe place in relation to a lot of other schools, but are our campus police really contributing to this, or are they off somewhere playing card games and waiting to bust some kids smoking behind Newing College? I appreciate the work that I think the BU police are doing, but when I see things like those I have mentioned, I can’t help but be a bit skeptical.

It would be hard to convince me that I’m blowing this out of proportion. I see it pretty plainly; I see BU police officers playing games on their laptops and chilling out, and I hear about someone being mugged. The two things don’t go together very well. Does anybody miss those times when the police were there for your protection and not just to provide a deterrent from public intoxication?