But another story out of HCC again makes me question supervisory systems at these smaller agencies. Officer Colleen Adams, who is under investigation in a racial profiling episode, was the subject of a letter from 10 colleagues to supervisors claiming she shouldn't be a cop, but top decisionmakers kept her on the force. Reported KHOU:
Initially, university officials suggested they had no knowledge of prior complaints against Adams. But a letter of complaint signed by several campus police officers was forwarded to members of the HCC Police command staff in July of 2009. The letter contains a laundry list of allegations, calling Adams “overly aggressive” and guilty of behavior “unbecoming of an officer.”See the full story:
If KHOU hadn't uncovered the memo questioning Adams' background, HCC clearly wasn't going to publicly acknowledge it. They'd already misled to the press to say she had no prior history of complaints. That doesn't inspire confidence. Agencies outfitting SWAT teams with military gear require robust supervisory capacity that typically can't be replicated at peripheral departments like campus or parks police, and which clearly doesn't exist at HCCPD.
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14 comments:
Yes, because a story about 1 officer in one agency (the same agency that sparked the original blog post) that is doing things wrong is totally reflective of the entire bunch of Special Jurisdiction Agencies and cops across an entire state.
/sarcasm
My original point stands, you simply don't hear about special jurisdiction officers at anywhere near the rate of Traditional Agencies (even adjusting for the huge disparity in populations, Dallas and Houston PD by themsleves have more cops combined than all of the special jurisdiction agencies of all types combined).
I've explained some of why that is (older officers, higher educational attainment), but it's also the fact that most of the agencies in question have administrators that stay focused on the main goal, which is protecting their parent institutions or serving their core community.
When you're a street cop (and I was once, for a small town at the beginning of my career), you get a huge amount of autonomy. This happens with a few Special Jurisdicion Agencies (like TABC), sometimes wayyy to much. But for most, you're never very far physically not only from some form of police supervision, but also Institutional (College, Airport, Hospital ect) Administration. My own Chief is never more than a half mile away. The same can't be said for many traditional cops.
These institutions don't have to have police, but rather choose to have enhanced services provided by peace officers rather than 1 week trained security guards. Every Special Jurisdiction Cop I know understands this, and further understands that we aren't Civil Service. As mostly at-will employees (except in some state agencies), their is incentive to keep you nose clean.
When you add all the above to the higher levels of supervision and a population less likely to get into trouble in the 1st place, you end up with the sitution I describe, fewer special jurisdiction cops ever making the news for something bad.
College Cop, I didn't say they were reflective of "cops across an entire state," I said the story underscores that supervision of HCCPD officers is sorely lacking, and in my experience the same is true of many other special jurisdictions (there are exceptions, but they're pretty rare). I'm not attacking the officers (10 of who stood up bravely to say what they did), but the administrators who tolerate and cover up for bad cops.
As for special jurisdiction officers not causing as many problems, set up some Google alerts on the subject and I think you'll be surprised. Some of the reasons for lower discipline rates you cited I agree with. But I've offered additional, equally credible explanations for "why that is" noting that the "data really shows is that supervisors at small agencies are taking fewer enforcement actions against their officers. Also, those numbers reflect the fact that these jurisdictions are often sleepy backwaters that don't really need a special police force and the officers there aren't doing much for good or ill."
So adding to your list of reasons for less discipline in special jurisdiction is that the agencies are mostly wasteful, unnecessary and unwarranted based on the need for policing services (meaning it's a huge waste of taxpayer dollars). Plus for whatever reason (you and I can only speculate) supervisors don't discipline in special jurisdictions as often as in traditional agencies.
Also, if this instance, is any indication, your claims these departments have "higher levels of supervision" seem questionable. What did supervisors at HCCPD do when 10 of their own officers said Adams was unfit besides lie to the press to say there were no complaints against her? At traditional agencies IAD is MUCH more likely to respond when officers submit a complaint than civilians, much less 10 of them. But HCCPD commanders were not only willing to let it slide, they misled reporters to pretend she had no complaint history so she, and they, wouldn't be held accountable.
Managers of that caliber with a circle-the-wagons mentality don't need to be running their own SWAT teams
I find it hard to see why you think Special Jurisdiction Police is a waste of money, when in fact the opposite is true.
Take my agency for instance. We are a community college pd (thankfully NOT HCC). A College is going to provide security and my college is directly taxpayer funded (as well as indirectly from the state a feds), but its also funded by tuition fees.
That means the students are paying for their own police service.
Now say we weren't here. Security guards would still be getting paid (less most likely), but if something that did require law enforcement arose, then they'd have to call 911. A city cop our county deputy (who totally tax payer funded) would have to respond.
The tax payers end up paying 2 people to do what one person is currently doing. As campus cops we wear both hats (police and security), freeing the already over-stretched traditional police to worry about everyone else rather than wasting time responding to a theft or simple assault on campus.
In addition to all that, we have time and resources available to us that the city/county cops don't. So whereas the traditional agency personell might be incline to just go ahead and make the arrest, we could just non-judicial/internal college disciplinary measures that keeps the aspiring college graduate OUT of the system.
Which is what I do at my job. As a part of the education system (unlike the city/county guys), part of my job is seeing these young folks walk across a stage and get their degree or certificate, not fill an already over-bloated jail system unles there is no other recourse. I'm sorry if you think that is a "waste".
Not true, CC. When college cops develop redundant capacity (SWAT, drug dogs, etc.) taxpayers pay twice for the service. Plus there's the expensive, redundant (often ineffective) extra supervision costs. Your logic fails to stand up to any cost-benefit test.
For that matter, school disciplinary systems kept students out of the justice system using "non-judicial/internal college disciplinary measures" long before school police departments ever existed.
Bottom line, it's teachers' jobs to encourage "folks walk across a stage and get their degree or certificate." That's simply not a law enforcement function by any stretch of the imagination.
It's not a "Law Enforcement function", it's an institutional function, of which all members of the institution are bound to assist, including Campus Police.
Campus Police don't only serve a law enforcement function. The police training and powers are actually secondary, they are their to enhance to peace keeping mission of the force. Think of Campus Police as being like the Coast Guard (which in addition to being a military service, is also a rescue service and a law enforcement agency). They do what they do so that the Navy can concentrate on "the rest of the Ocean" so to speak (lol).
For some reason you keep going on about HCC's "swat" team and its cost, when I've have previously said that it is misguided (and I'm not alone, I think you find many others in special jurisdiction agencies think the same). A College PD doesn't need swat team, but not for reasons of cost, but reasons of reality, college PDs (and the rest of law enforcement) should be prepared for active shooter incidents, SWAT isn't good for that.
Sure, education institutions use non-judicial measures, but campus police could use either judicial or non-judicial measures. And because of this, (again) over-streteched traditional/territorial police agencies can worry about everyone else.
My agency (like most of its type) doesn't have swat teams or drug dogs or DARE programs or detectives or any of that non-sense. We are partially paid for by the community we directly serve, and in protecting our institution, we are not only a support service for the school, but the rest of Law Enforcement (like all college employees, not just teachers, the more people we are able to help graduate, the less liekly Traditional Law Enforcement will have to ever deal with them, because people with an actual future commit less crime).
Again, sorry if you think that's a waste, but most of us are NOT nearly as stupid as the administration at HCCPD. Please do not lump us all together.
There are similar problems at other campuses, like the University of Houston Downtown. Here the campus cops patrol beyond their jurisdiction in downtown Houston while ignoring robberies on campus parking lots. They need to be reined in.
Her supers covered for her, i.e. they lied to the public they're sworn to serve. This happens all too often in every police dept. everywhere. It's especially heinous because this particular 'lady' is entrusted with our children. Children who, at this particular stage of life, are apt to do dumb sh*t on a regular basis. Tact and compassion are needed here, not some bimbo with a Roscoe P. Coltrain complex. Her supers failed to keep her out of a position to hurt our kids, therefore they failed in doing their jobs. I find this to be the norm, rather than the exception.
Pretty good information, College Cop. I am persuaded that you have more of a professional interest in what you do.
"Pretty good information, College Cop. I am persuaded that you have more of a professional interest in what you do."
Thank you very much, this is my 13th year as a campus police officer and my 15th in LE in general (worked as a detention officer for a couple years beforehand).
I always like to get other perspectives, but I despise the act of condemning an entire group for the actions of a few. The same thing happens with constables, most of our constables and deputies are doing what they should do (protecting the courts and serving process), but a few high profile idiots (elected by the people) screw up and in the minds of some, they are all bad.
I simply find that irritating.
College Cop, the institution is about education but you're not part of that arm - you're security. What you do educates no one. You're there as rule enforcer, and your presence makes it more likely your employer will seek criminal charges for petty crap than handle discipline internally. Frankly that's even (much) more true of ISD police, but the generalization also applies in the college environment. It's not a question of all y'all being bad actors. That's a red herring. The issue is the only tool you have is a hammer so everything looks like a nail, even when most school discipline problems don't remotely require intervention by armed leos.
I don't mean any personal offense and I hope you don't take this criticism as a person attack, but nothing you've written in these posts persuades me that such agencies aren't "wasteful, unnecessary and unwarranted based on the need for policing services."
"College Cop, the institution is about education but you're not part of that arm - you're security. What you do educates no one. You're there as rule enforcer, and your presence makes it more likely your employer will seek criminal charges for petty crap than handle discipline internally. Frankly that's even (much) more true of ISD police, but the generalization also applies in the college environment. It's not a question of all y'all being bad actors. That's a red herring. The issue is the only tool you have is a hammer so everything looks like a nail, even when most school discipline problems don't remotely require intervention by armed leos."
This shows a gross misunderstanding of not only college/university/school policing (as a specfic sub-set of Special Jurisdiction Law Enforcement), but also of the mission of schools in the 1st place.
EVERY member of a school insitution (from the President/Superintendant on down to the janitors) is responsible for the mission of the institution. Teachers do it by teaching, administrators do it by administrating, janitors do it by cleaning and campus cops do it by enforcing, protecting and sometime guiding/redirecting.
I figured you of all people would be in favor of police who'se primary goal would be to keep people OUT of the wrong system (criminal justice) and IN the right one (Education).
My preasance does NOT make it more likely that criminal charges will be filed, it makes it LESS likely, because if I do my job right nothing that needs prosecuting will happen in the 1st place.
I spent a LOT more time making arrests and appearing in court as a small town cop than I do working for a college, because in addition to being a part of the criminal justice system, I'm a part of the education suystem (in a supporting role). It is simply in the higher interests of Justice that the persons I deal with for petty crimes graduate from college rather than being stuff into the system with a permanent record.
I find you're view to be common but wholly incorrect. That perception is strengthen by the wrong actions of agencies like HCCPD, but is still wrong none the less.
"I don't mean any personal offense and I hope you don't take this criticism as a person attack, but nothing you've written in these posts persuades me that such agencies aren't "wasteful, unnecessary and unwarranted based on the need for policing services."
Then you simply don't understand what it is that I and a couple thousand other special jurisdiction leos do (not that all of them do it right, referance again HCCPD). As I told you before, the policng power and firearms are really secondary, a "standing reserve" incase our best efforts and maintaining peace fail. Those powers (and uniforms that say "police" rather than "security") exist only to help us with the main goal (peace), they are not an end in and of their own.
If you really understood what people like me do, I'm sure you'd think of us as a model for the rest of Law Enforcement (which could do with more peace keeping and less law enforcing). That's what I like about my job, I get to be a PEACE officer rather than law enforcer or tax collector. The same couldn't be said for my 1st cop job.
College Cop: Your work has nothing to do with the "mission of schools." Sorry. Become a teacher if you want to contribute to kids getting an education. You chose a different profession, one that was grafted onto schools late in their history and doesn't reflect their core mission.
You write: "you of all people would be in favor of police who'se primary goal would be to keep people OUT of the wrong system (criminal justice) and IN the right one (Education)"
But you misunderstand me. I don't believe police are needed for that purpose. Schools handled discipline without cops on campus for generations. Having cops do it adds to the risk that schools will rush to criminalize student behavior more quickly than in the past. If a civilian was doing that work, even fewer would end up in "the wrong system."
The reason you "get to be a PEACE officer rather than law enforcer" is that law enforcement isn't generally needed where you work, which is mainly why I view such expenditures as a "waste."
BTW, College Cop, here's another story that doesn't jibe with your depiction of campus police as reducing the criminalization of student discipline.
How many 10 year olds would be getting criminal citations in school if principals handled discipline instead of cops?
Sorry. Become a teacher if you want to contribute to kids getting an education".
The fact that you think that illustrates your disconnect. Like most you probably view policng in the standard way, so a non-standard police force seems odd.
The truth is, police are supposed to be a part of the community, a part that supports the funtioning of the whole. I contribute to the education of our students by keeping them safe, preventing disruption and maintaining an environment conducive to learning. Imagine how much deducating would go on if those teachers didn't have people like me to do that, or janitors to keep facilites clean, or facilities services to keep things running, or IT to fix the computers and networks. It takes more to run a school than teachers.
" You chose a different profession, one that was grafted onto schools late in their history and doesn't reflect their core mission."
Depends on what you define as "late". Society has become rougher, which is why Yale University hired the first American Campus Police Officer....in 1894 (116 years ago). It's why California created to UC Police Force in 1947, it's why Texas followed suit 20 years laters in 1967 (after the Whitman shooting in Austin). These things were done because people understand that shutting the barn door AFTEr the horse gets out just doesn't work (ironically, this is also the reason why HCC's swat team is a dumb idea...).
"But you misunderstand me. I don't believe police are needed for that purpose. Schools handled discipline without cops on campus for generations. Having cops do it adds to the risk that schools will rush to criminalize student behavior more quickly than in the past. If a civilian was doing that work, even fewer would end up in "the wrong system.""
Which is fine, until the shooting starts (which is rare, but still possible), then you're right back to waiting for the police to arrive. And all the while you're either expecting a teacher to do it (which is really taking away from their core mission) which costs money OR you're hiring security staff, who are either unarmed and have 4 full hours of state mandated training, or armed WITH A GUN and have a whopping 36 hours of state mandated training. and when something bad happens you call the police and not only are tax payers footing both bills, but the city has one less officer on the street because he's dealing with something at a college.
Or you can just keep it like it is across most of this country (90% of students at 4 year colleges in America go to schools that have campus police) and have a peace officer who has 600+ hours of training before he gets to carry a gun around students.
Sounds like an easy choice to me lol.
"The reason you "get to be a PEACE officer rather than law enforcer" is that law enforcement isn't generally needed where you work, which is mainly why I view such expenditures as a "waste.""
Imo its sometimes better for specific communities to have their own (and as in our case, partially pay for our own) than to rely on and further drain an already streteched police force.
The existance or agencies like mine means their's one less place that need to call for police service, so the city/county guys can concentrate on the real issues. And we get paid less than they do, making us a bigger bargain.
I won't sully your blog further with my non-contributions (lol), I'd only ask that you try to open you mind a bit more to a different perspective. I've had to do that personally (i was a stright law and order type before i came to the college and was exposed to alternate non-LE views) and it was a very very good thing for me. Something I think the rest of LE (and society in general) could use more of.
Have a good day.
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