[su_heading size=”21″]A petition calling for a permanent police presence on campus has already gathered more than 1,000 signatures[/su_heading]
Students and faculty are divided on how to handle increasing safety on campus after last week’s shooting in the Student Centre.
In an Excalibur survey of 193 students, 63 per cent said they would like to see police on campus, while 35 per cent of students want the university to implement measures such as metal detectors and more video surveillance.
York student Stephanie Castellano has started a petition to employ police on campus, which has collected 1,020 signatures as of publication. Castellano feels a change in security will make students feel safer.
“We should be able to go to school, feel safe, and not have to worry about shootings,” says Castellano.
“We need actual officers rather than just security on campus, because we’ve already seen how effective that is—not very much.”
Castellano is hoping York will adopt a security model similar to the University of Toronto, where campus police
are special constables and act under the authority of the Ontario Police Services Act.
The campus police have the same authority as the Toronto Police—they can arrest and release individuals, and have the power to deal with criminal and provincial offences. According to Josh Oliver, editor of the University of Toronto’s student newspaper, The Varsity, the campus police patrol the university fairly regularly.
Although many want police on campus, Amanda Glasbeek, a York social science professor, who teaches a course called Politics of Crime Prevention and Security, says police on campus will not improve safety and security for students, as the presence of police on campus will put limits on free speech.
Glasbeek, also notes having police on campus has in the past resulted in racial profiling of students, which makes the campus inaccessible.
In response to whether York should increase video surveillance, Glasbeek says an increase will not deter violent crimes such as shootings.
“Cameras assume offenders are rational. They assume offenders will do a cost-benefit analysis of the situation,” says Glasbeek.
A representative Cops off Campus, a coalition of student groups at York, wrote in an e-mail to Excalibur that there are no benefits to bringing police onto campus or to introducing police surveillance.
“Rather than York implementing more surveillance and profiling students, York needs to address the root causes of sexual assault and violence on campus such as misogyny, racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, and lack of support for students,” says
Victoria Barnett, a member of Cops Off Campus. Prakash Amarasooriya, the vice chair of the community safety council at York, says conversations on safety issues need to include everyone.
“When it comes to safety issues, it’s always about balancing multiple perspectives. Some feel safer with cameras, and some feel [it’s] an invasion of their personal space,” says Amarasooriya.
For the next two weeks, two Toronto Police officers will be patrolling the campus, after which time the situation will be re-evaluated, according to Janice Walls of York media.
In addition, York will be stationing security officers in the Student Centre and is looking into putting security cameras in the building.
With files from Ryan Moore and Hamid Adem
Victoria Alarcon
Assistant News Editor
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