Where is the ‘heightened police presence’?

One week ago today, the Cornell community received yet another CornellALERT.

For the next five hours, students hunkered down. Exams and events were cancelled. Finally, news arrived in the evening that the university lifted its shelter-in-place order. This came with two additional announcements: one of the three suspects was still at-large, and that Cornell Police will continue its heightened presence on campus.

Earlier today, the Cornell Daily Sun published the new demands of anti-racism group #DoBetterCornell. In the past, the group has proposed several initiatives, such as “student involvement in faculty appointments” and a new anti-racism institute (which will become the “Center for Racial Justice and Equitable Futures”).

But in today’s Daily Sun column, the group asked an important question: where is this “heightened police presence” the university promised? The group’s piece read:

What this actually means has been unclear. Cornell has failed to describe what police departments will be on campus, for how long, in what capacity, and where this presence will occur.

I am certainly asking the same questions today. In my experience, Cornell University Police Department (CUPD) vehicles are as rare as hen’s teeth while on-campus, though there has been a noticeable increase in Emergency Medical Services vehicles. The university itself has yet to provide a specific plan as to how student safety can be better ensured.

An increased police presence can play a crucial role in doing this. Research by New York University economist Morgan Williams and his colleagues found that merely increasing the number of patrol officers alone in the average city, not arrests, reduces homicides, robbery, sexual assault, and aggravated assault. Furthermore, black lives are saved at double the rate white lives are saved in the average city that increases its police force.

#DoBetterCornell activists may argue that an increased police presence would increase tension for minority students on campus. Indeed, they called for “an expedient end to said presence.” 

Additionally, Williams’s research supporting an increased police presence does not address other contemporary issues, such as use of excessive force or different forms of profiling.

However, given CUPD’s commitments to a strict, limited use-of-force policy, background checks, de-escalation training, and a whole host of other initiatives, it seems like Cornell may be able to benefit from the increase in patrol officers while avoiding some of the consequences. It goes without saying that the department’s actions last Sunday and Tuesday were nothing short of heroic. Every student should be grateful for their role in ensuring the physical safety of all on campus.

But despite CUPD’s rapid response to potentially dangerous situations, we have yet to see the increased presence university officials promised.  Over a week has passed since a gunman forced another lockdown on North Campus and threatened the community at large.  With one suspect still at-large and students reeling from two criminal incidents, I ask again: where is CUPD?