Security Spreads On TSU’s Campus

Security Spreads On TSU’s Campus

            Tennessee State University’s Police Department inspects the cars of vehicles as they seek entrance after a crisis which occurred at Middle Tennessee State University.

Students afraid for their safety have complained and the police department has assured the new security implementation involving unannounced inspections along with enforced on sight identification will put their concerns at ease.

             “We figured we better take action before it happens here, we haven’t had any real crime problems here. All we’ve had is drug possession in mainly Boyd Hall, Watson Hall and a few in Wilson Hall. We’re trying to detour crime from happening here as compared to our neighboring universities,” said Sgt. Henry Perry, a campus police officer.

The shooting that occurred on the grounds of Middle Tennessee State University involving Austin Morrow, 20, an MTSU student, who was shot in the hand, raised a red flag. Immediately after the incident, TSU reacted by inspecting motor vehicles of non-TSU students. Perry says there have been complaints of safety issues which are due to “outsiders” coming on campus in pursuit to rob students of their refund checks around the time of distribution.

Larceny and assault were major crimes in the year of 2009 without any new record as of today in the Campus Handbook. Tennessee State University’s new President, Portia Holmes Shields, added major changes to the security mission by promoting Emmett Turner as Chief of Police. This has completely shifted an invisible force into a visibly safe campus alerting “outsiders” to take the new law enforcement seriously.

“I felt this whole thing was unorganized,” said Amber Sanders, a exorcise science major from Illinois. “They made me late for class and at one point I thought to myself they were profiling me because I was driving a sports car.”

With the increase of crime annually on this campus, President Shields has an obligation to the students according to the promises she made on TSU-TV98. She’s determined to implement safer precautions and change the campus’s environment.

The changes that were made have already started shaping the form of this university. Shields is changing the university’s image entirely while erasing past alleged statistics from outside resources.

“We have a long way to go. I can see what President Shields is doing for our campus, but we’re not quite at the finish line. Hopefully she can turn this university around and help decrease the crime rate on campus,” said Catherine Jackson, a graduate biology major from Los Angeles.

The police department advises students to register and to pick-up hang-tags for their vehicles to avoid conflicts. “This change is permanent.” Perry said. “We plan to do everything in our mission statement. We are going to protect our students and we’re eventually working to make sure we keep outsiders off our campus so that the students can feel safe.”