Although crime is down in Providence, Brown President Ruth J. Simmons says safety is the issue.

01:00 AM EST on Thursday, January 12, 2006

BY JENNIFER D. JORDAN
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Brown University armed its campus police force with semiautomatic pistols yesterday afternoon, making it the first college in Rhode Island to have its police officers carry guns.

Brown's 33 sworn police officers each received 160 hours of diversity, weapons and use-of-force training over a two-year period to prepare for the change, said Mark Porter, chief of police and director of public safety at the school.

"The officers will be able to add to maintaining a safe campus and be more proactive about pursuing and apprehending criminals," Porter said. "In order to fully address the safety issue here, we have to be able to deal with unexpected crime waves or any criminal element that might come onto campus."

Brown's 18 security officers and other public safety personnel, such as building guards, communication officers and administrative and support staff, will not be armed.

While crimes have been declining on Brown's campus in recent years, President Ruth J. Simmons decided two years ago that the campus police should carry guns. A 2002 report about Brown's safety, authored by William Bratton, former police chief of Boston and New York City and current police chief of Los Angeles, recommended that Brown arm its police force.

Simmons referenced the report's findings in an e-mail sent to the Brown community yesterday afternoon, saying that "to be more effective against crime, Brown's campus police would need to take on additional policing roles, including arresting armed perpetrators, pursuing fleeing suspects and making car stops." Unarmed officers cannot perform those functions, and are instead required to "disengage" when faced with a violent crime or weapon.

"Our first responsibility must be to do all we can to assure the safety of our students, faculty and staff," Simmons said in the statement.

Several colleges have armed their police, according to their Web sites, including Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University and Tufts University, all located in urban areas. The University of Rhode Island has considered arming its police in recent years, but so far, URI President Robert L. Carothers has declined to do so, saying he is concerned that armed officers "might be a greater risk to students."

When Simmons announced in December 2003 that Brown's police officers would be armed, some people, including Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline, expressed similar concerns.

Most crime rates on College Hill have dipped in recent years, prompting some to question the necessity of armed campus police.

For example, while 2005 saw an increase in larcenies -- 244 up from 225 in 2004 -- the number of break-ins dropped from 51 in 2004 to 24 last year, and the number of assaults fell from 39 in 2004 to 25 last year.

However, Chief Porter said that armed police will make Brown's campus safer.

Porter oversaw the arming of about 24 officers at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth between 2000 and 2002. Porter said the training provided by the Rhode Island State Police and other public safety organizations to Brown's officers was "thorough and rigorous."

"Crime being lower is a good thing, and we know we are doing some things that work," Porter said. "But in order for our officers to be more effective and deal with street crime, we need the ability to apprehend suspects."

jjordan@projo.com / (401) 277-7254