By Kiersten Hacker

The President’s Task Force on Community Policing held listening sessions on Wednesday and Thursday evening for students and staff to share experiences, thoughts and opinions on campus safety. 

Both sessions were hosted by the task force’s Community Relations Subcommittee with the goal of creating an open space for the voices of students and staff to be included when discussing the task force’s future recommendations. 

“Our job is to survey the community, get their voice and incorporate their experiences, their ideas into the larger report that we’ll be putting together,” said Tony Randall, Senior Manager of the Student Success Initiative.  

“We talk to students, faculty and staff and really just get their experiences and honest opinions about what’s currently happening in order to help us implement new ways in order to improve the current system,” added Zahrah Siddiq, a junior kinesiology major and president of the NAACP chapter at UMD. 

Both Randall and Siddiq are members of the subcommittee and facilitated the student listening session on Thursday evening. They shared that there will be another listening session for the general College Park community for residents to share their thoughts in addition to students, faculty and staff.

Students and staff were encouraged to follow prompts about what makes them feel safe on campus, what makes them feel unsafe, their experiences with University of Maryland Police Department, suggestions for future campus safety, or any other concerns they wanted to share.

Some staff members recounted positive interactions with campus police, saying that UMPD always seemed to be responsive and helpful. When locked out of an office or faced with other common problems, UMPD was quick to offer assistance to these members of the faculty and staff. 

However, many staff members spoke about interactions with UMPD that were rather negative. One staff member shared an experience with UMPD officers who escalated a situation over a misunderstanding during a traffic stop. Another residential staff member shared her husband’s uncomfortable conversation with a UMPD officer while living in a residence building because he, a Black man, did not look like a student. Others expressed concerns about the lack of cameras in parking lots where their vehicles have been broken into. 

After listening to staff experiences, many also shared other concerns and suggestions for the future of policing at UMD. One staff member expressed discomfort with the over–policing of events held by organizations for students of color. Other concerns included racial division in policing, discomfort with armed officers on campus and the lack of empathy from male officers and emergency resources aside from the police.  

Common proposals included better handling of and resources for students experiencing mental health crises, a clear list of phone numbers to call aside from the police and increased funding for campus safety programs. 

Participants placed emphasis on diversity and trauma training for officers to promote trauma–informed communication, especially from UMPD email updates. Heightened communication and transparency within the community were also proposed suggestions. Many said they felt they were unaware of the work UMPD is doing to increase safety and suggested clearer, more transparent communication. 

“I’m really glad that people were very open to sharing their experiences because I feel like they share the same sentiments as us, like they want to create the change that we’re trying to create as well,” Siddiq said.

Students voiced similar suggestions to the faculty and staff members, but the experiences they shared tended to be more negative. While faculty and staff members expressed numerous negative interactions, some described positive incidences. However, students rarely spoke about any positive encounter with UMPD.

Though UMD often talks about the high level of safety on campus, not all students said they feel safe. One student shared that officers once appeared at his door in a residence hall and asked if he had been smoking marijuana when he had just been watching a movie. The student proceeded to express that he does not feel safe anywhere on campus, especially during the night as a Black student. 

Another student explained that she had been followed by a police car after leaving her therapy session and putting on her hoodie. Once she arrived at her residence hall and entered, the police car left and the student said she felt uneasy.

A third student shared that officers had shown up at the door of her friend’s apartment after residents in the neighboring apartment had called the police accusing the two of hosting a party. She said her interaction with UMPD was extremely uncomfortable as officers held their hands on their guns. This student also shared that she feels uncomfortable and unsafe as a woman of color living near Fraternity Row. 

Another student shared similar feelings, saying that she does not feel safe as a student of color near Fraternity Row, Terrapin Row or Route 1 at night when white students can get even more aggressive after drinking. 

Most students shared sentiments that UMPD is not responsive and agreed that they were not aware of the community work being done by the police or their rigid measures taken to promote campus safety. 

“We have a lot of relationships with a lot of other student leaders on campus and so I think that just created a comfortable forum for us to really begin hearing the real hardships that people have experienced on campus,” Randall said. 

Students offered suggestions to improve campus safety and the policing system similar to ideas proposed by staff members. Mental health was a primary concern for students since police presence can contribute to the emotional struggle felt by students of color when they are already experiencing a crisis. Students agreed that UMPD is not successful in handling mental health crises and there should be alternative services for students.

A list of clear alternative services to call instead of UMPD was another primary suggestion, because most students said they feel uncomfortable calling campus police. One student said he feels that when you call UMPD you become the problem.  

Other suggestions included the idea that UMPD share more information during freshman orientation about their exact work, their involvement in the community and the nature of the police force. 

Community involvement was an important suggestion from both students and staff when considering how to increase transparency and comfort with officers in the community. “The only time they see the police is when something is happening, but people wanted to feel like they know who the police are and that they have relationships with them,” Randall said. 

 Students and staff members desire transparency, accountability and a reexamination of campus safety. Now that their voices were heard, three different subcommittees on the task force will continue working on their report to enhance campus safety in new ways.

“I’m really excited to continue working with the task force and also NAACP. We’re really trying to get some events together for next semester,” Siddiq said.

Featured image: Held through Zoom, each student was given the chance to speak, post a chat or share their thoughts anonymously.

Photo by Kiersten Hacker