I have covered the topic of police patrolling campus for the Collegian since the Town Hall meeting on September 6th. One month later, there has been a great deal of information given, as well as some research I have done personally to help recognize both the idea behind this new safety measure as well as the shortcomings of what these patrols represent. I personally believe that while the NNPD is a great community partner of Bethel College, and I hold no resentment or ill feelings towards them as individuals, it is what is being represented by their presence on campus I must address.
I have a unique perspective when it comes to police on school property. My old high school, Pretty Prairie High, was a little school of around 70 to 90 students, though the building shared a city block with our junior high school of around the same size. This meant the Pretty Prairie JR/SR High schools were split between 6 different buildings and sections on one block, making it a nightmare for emergency response. Because of this, my school was used as a training ground, with officers from all over south central Kansas coming to do active shooter training within our campus; the idea being that “if you can handle a school shooting at Pretty Prairie, you can handle a school shooting anywhere.”
I had never worried about my school being in danger; we were a small town of 650 people where everybody knew everybody. That is, until training for an unlikely threat began becoming a regular idea. Fences were constructed, cameras and door locks were installed, and police began regularly showing up at school events to act as guards. School felt like a prison, and I felt more trapped than safe.
Then, when I arrived at Bethel in the fall of 2021, I felt much safer simply because Bethel felt like home to me; it felt like my old school before all the locks, cameras, and fences. I was able to walk around campus without feeling the need to look over my shoulder or impatiently wait as I had to get checked in by three different people. The small town aesthetic Bethel advertised to me felt like I could explore, relax, and have fun, especially after learning about Bubbert’s pranks, taking part in one or two.
Now here I am in my senior year at Bethel College, another small town campus where I once felt like everybody knows everybody. Where now I feel more watched and monitored. Where the worst case scenario is the expected reality. I understand preparing for the worst. But preparing for the worst shouldn’t become a daily routine we have to work around. Research agrees, with many organizations such as The Trace, an anti-gun violence group, stating that students don’t feel safe when officers are introduced to campus; instead, it damages their learning experience, placing the fear in the back of their minds that at any given point, something will go wrong. Bethel adding police to campus is not ensuring safety, but anxiety, paranoia, and concern.