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Open Campus Police Logs

"One of the intentions is to make sure schools do not conceal any information from the public," said Jenna Santangell, a representative for Security On Campus, Inc., a national, non-profit organization geared toward preventing campus violence. "This would allow information to be seen by anyone on campus just as you can do in any local police office." Similar laws already exist in seven states including Massachusetts, Tennessee, Oklahoma, California, West Virginia, Minnesota and Pennsylvania.

"There needs to be a set protocol Ñ hopefully with a federal law it will improve and schools will be a little more open about crime," said Michigan Student Assembly President Fiona Rose. Nick Roumel, a representative for Student Legal Services, said the bill sounds like a good idea but he said he was concerned about privacy for those arrested. "This needs to be balanced against peoples' privacy concerns," Roumel said. Elizabeth Hall, a spokesperson for the University's Department of Public Safety, said DPS will not have to change its protocol if the bill is adopted as a federal law. "We're basically already doing what the law provides for," she said. Hall said DPS has offered open police logs since about 1988. "We give information every day on what happens on this campus Ñ we report everything from unlocks to larceny to requests for emergency aid Ñ and their times and locations," she said.

"We believe it's really important to share information with the University community," Hall said. Hall said currently victims' names and suspects' names are withheld from the logs Ñ they are only included if a warrant has been issued or an arrest has been made.

While the University may already be doing what the new bill proposes, many schools around the country are not. "Not all schools allow students to see their records Ñ this will make it so they do," said Jeannie Bonner, Rep. John Duncan Jr.'s (D-Tennessee) legislative assistant. Duncan is sponsoring the bill.

"Right now they are not required to keep logs open Ñ this bill will make it so they are," Bonner said. While some universities currently keep logs, many of them do not allow the public to see them.

"They're very suspicious of people who come in to see the logs Ñ they give them a hard time about it," Santangell said. "The information would be more accessible with this bill." Santangell said the logs would have to include any violation of the University's code of conduct as well as federal, state or local laws. "This would include anyone arrested during Hash Bash or the Naked Mile," Santangell said.

Rep. Lynn Rivers (D-Ann Arbor) said she supports the idea of the bill. "Having information on any given campus is useful," Rivers said. Rivers said she had not spoken with Duncan about the bill, but said the bill might be a response to a lack of information on college campuses regarding the reporting of rapes and sexual assaults.

Hall said DPS reports all the rape and sexual assault cases reported to the department. "SAPAC's numbers may look different from our numbers, but that's because not everyone reports incidents of rape or sexual assault to the police," she said. Santangell said that colleges routinely coverup crime information to protect the school's image.

"Some schools provide only vague information in an untimely fashion, making it useless to students and parents," she said. Santangell said enacting this proposal would help make colleges a safer place for everyone.

"Whenever you have a situation where students can learn more about their campus and feel safer there Ñ it's definitely a good thing," Rose said. Ñ Daily Managing News Editor Jennifer Harvey contributed to this report.