USC Department of Public
Safety “Gestapo”
If you find
yourself on or around the USC campus you might wonder why the numerous segways,
patrol suvs, and armed personnel are there. Well, they are referred to as DPS
at the University of Southern California. They are not in any way affiliated
with government law enforcement, but are there to protect students, staff, and
structures from the crime and vandalism rampantly manifested in the surrounding
neighborhoods. That being said, the student-officer interaction is not always
friendly to the say the least.
Near Tommy
Trojan, in the center of campus, DPS officers are commonly seen yelling at
bikers in pedestrian zones, erecting barricades, or posting restrictive signs.
Many are seen in three wheeled tank-like segways zooming through walkways or
gunning it around surface streets with their heavily equipped ford explorers as
if trouble is always afoot. Most officers will be seen with side arms, the almost
identical brown and black uniforms worn by LAPD or LA County Sheriffs, and a
healthy slice of attitude. They are the constant “police presence” that are not
actual police.
Many
including myself question their excessive numbers or raunchy behavior. Unfortunately,
many DPS officers tend to embody a sense of entitlement common to that of a
minority of law enforcement officers across the US. Yes, the guy with a beer
belly that asks why he pulled you over. And yes, I have seen numerous DPS
officers that are well over 300 pounds, questioning if they are really there to
confront criminals. Many students I have come across complain that while DPS
stringently enforces their restrictions, requests to investigate lost bikes,
burglaries, or domestic disturbances can be answered with “your on your own.” I
have been met with that response over the phone more than once. One DPS officer
even had the audacity to ask me to keep moving on a city-owned sidewalk.
Unfortunately, as long as the big
guns, shiny badges, $6,000 segways, and siren equipped suvs are handed out in
droves, the DPS “Gestapo” is unlikely to part ways with it’s antics. While this
behavior towards criminals may be acceptable, continually alienating USC
students without ill will to do actual harm makes no sense. The DPS should
exist to prevent actual crimes and investigate criminal behavior, policing
cyclists or enforcing superficial restrictions is a waste of University funds
and does not contribute to increased public safety.
I could not agree more that their presence can be a blight on our community for numerous reasons.
ReplyDeleteHowever, one should not discount the positive externalities that accompany their extensive presence. It was not long ago that this part of town was incredibly dangerous with muggings, assaults, and murders occurring on or near campus. There definitely should be some major adjustments to their culture, policies, and lack of accountability, but I would be weary to see them go away altogether.
What kind of changes would you want to see enacted? Would you want a scaling down of their presence or wide-sweeping changes in how they conduct themselves with students? Do you think eventually USC could subsist with a dramatically diminished force of DPS agents?
Essentially my opinion is DPS needs to objectively act solely towards reducing crime on or around the USC campus where they have jurisdiction. They should not deal with student or faculty unless there is reason to believe they are committing crimes against state and city laws.
DeleteAnd while DPS certainly deserves a great deal of criticism, I'm wondering why you chose this angle instead of others. And more generally, what your thoughts are on these other issues and which should be prioritized, if any. For instance, there's DPS long track record of harassing and racially profiling our neighbors. See: http://la.streetsblog.org/2013/04/30/a-tale-of-two-communities-new-security-measures-at-usc-intensify-profiling-of-lower-income-youth-of-color/
ReplyDeleteThere's also DPS' atrocious record on rape and sexual assault, see: http://www.alternet.org/gender/usc-student-school-official-said-my-rape-didnt-count-because-attacker-didnt-orgasm
Whoops. It looks like the first part of my comment was chopped off. It read something like:
DeleteI completely agree with your critique in saying that " DPS should exist to prevent actual crimes and investigate criminal behavior, policing cyclists or enforcing superficial restrictions is a waste of University funds and does not contribute to increased public safety."
I do not understand there extent of authority with local residents, but I certainly question their jurisdiction on private property separate from USC. DPS should not have any reason to overstep its bounds, that being said LAPD doesn't always follow legal protocol either. The best way to prevent this is for local resident to know their right when dealing with law enforcement. I have a cell phone app that goes through your rights in a variety of law enforcement related incidents, I would think something like this would be helpful to all.
DeleteLet me start by saying that I agree with the part of your conclusion where you argue “DPS should exist to prevent actual crimes and investigate criminal behavior.” However, that reflects on a single element of what is a far more expansive mission statement. DPS exists, as suggested by the name, to ensure public safety, and that necessitates erecting barricades at night and making sure bikers follow on campus transit laws. I see no reason to draw on the Gestapo in your argument to help paint the picture of the DPS for the reader. I’m no history major, but I think the Gestapo’s mission statement, and actions therein, were VASTLY different from the DPS’ actions today. You do your argument a disservice by drawing on this reference. Yes, there was the famous Seinfeld episode on the “Soup Nazi,” but the way you treat the Gestapo here is slightly more abrasive as you’re drawing a direct link with the DPS.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you cite DPS officers “well over 300 pounds, questioning if they are really there to confront criminals” and “many DPS officers [who] tend to embody a sense of entitlement.” On the weight issue, is there a 300 pounds cutoff when considering job competency? I don’t think so, and I’d like to think that while some people are prejudiced against the overweight, here at USC we are not. The LAPD, a department you seem to be no big fan of either, has no height and weight limit for officers. Why should USC? Here’s the source – from LAPD:
http://per.lacity.org/recruit1.htm
On your second comment referring to a “sense of entitlement” – I get it. Some officers have a chip on their shoulder, but again that has NOTHING to do with job competency. DPS isn’t there to be your friend. DPS is there to protect us. And on balance the Department is “good” and the few bad apples can be found in any job cohort - anywhere. Malcom Gladwell attacks this point, which is known as a hockey-stick curve - a “power law” distribution—where all the activity is not in the middle but at one extreme.” Here’s the link to that:
http://cda.morris.umn.edu/~kildegac/Courses/Enviro/papers/MillionDollarMurray.pdf
Like other comments on this piece, I’d like to hear some constructive objectives/changes you would like to see at USC DPS. I like my law enforcement officers with “big guns, shiny badges, $6,000 segways, and siren equipped suvs.” Why argue for anything less?
---Hapless Blogger
"Gestapo" isnt meant to be a direct comparison here. Many people use "Gestapo" to mean overly strict in an unnecessary fashion. I have yet to see an LAPD officer who wasnt in pretty decent shape so I think DPS officers should have a simular standard as LAPD officers in terms of fitness. LAPD doesn't list body requirements because that would create liability for them but they most likley have a physical test/requirement to be hired. My only point of the blog is to argue that DPS should only be used for addressing crime and criminals, not harassing student or faculty for superficial infractions. Yes, this means being in good shape to apprehend criminals safely and proactively following up on reports of criminal activity. Thanks for your comment.
ReplyDeleteI have certainly witnessed the behavior you describe on campus, and I also have questioned what yelling at students on bikes is actually doing to protect the community. I think that DPS often ends up the ones carrying out university policies put in place to appease parents, not necessarily to protect students. I've often wondered if those officers monitoring bikers, checking people in to get on campus past 9 p.m., or scanning fingerprints in the freshman dorms have the same amount of training as those patrolling the streets. I would appreciate more transparency about the kinds of officers USC hires, what their previous training is and what their exact responsibilities are. For students, a lot is at stake. I think too many write off DPS as inconvenient mall cops with no power. With that mindset, safety is only one of the concerns to be addressed.
ReplyDeleteI understand your point, and I think it mainly is commenting on the culture and attitude of the DPS officers. I do not really like the comment regarding the fact that some of the officers maybe be overweight, I think that does not legitimately comment on the abilities of any of the officers but is more of a personal stab at them.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the bike and pedestrian policies, I don't blame the officers because most of the time they are simply enforcing what is university policy. At the same time, I have heard many people tell me of incidences where DPS had excessive attitude toward students. The reality is that there are decent and great DPS officers out there who defy this negative stereotype. I personally have been witness and a recipient to acts of kindness from DPS officers, so I think the bottom line is that we should be able to criticize certain characteristics of some DPS officers while being grateful for the entity as a whole and those who are kind in their service.
I would agree that the DPS presence at USC is excessive. It is necessary for them to monitor potential crime on campus, but I think more attention needs to be given to off-campus activity. The "yellow jackets" are sprinkled outside of USC's borders, but they are only armed with their outerwear and walkie talkie. Bike policies need to be enforced, but I would prefer to see more DPS officers when I'm walking home at night.
ReplyDeleteI think that your position about DPS and their role and image on campus is an extremely interesting one. From my personal experiences, I have rarely if ever had a positive or happy experience with DPS while I’ve been at USC. While I’ve been here I’ve seen my friends get tackled by DPS, been electrocuted by DPS’s tazers, been harasses and in the past month I’ve been pulled over on my walk back to my friends apartment, and was asked to open up my backpack and prove to the officer that the laptop in my backpack was actually mine. These actions by DPS are not random acts that have come out of the blue, it is obvious that because of the recent shootings on and off campus in the past 4 years, DPS has received a lot of negative attention from parents and students for not adequately protecting the students from harm.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I don’t believe that to protect us that DPS needs to be a “private military” and be able to act outside the law or to act as if the law does not apply to them within the USC jurisdiction. All in all, DPS is very helpful towards ensuring the safety of the students…but I think that a good start would be at least to take away their guns…they are security guards for a private college campus…why do you need a gun? On USC Department of Public Safety “Gestapo”
-Think Free, Break the Chains