Show i' o -- - J2£LUfcitilj3£LMtiiUi (i 3 C imatiEffliia flashed across campus by Barry Maxfield staff writer last couple of weeks at CEU seen a ripple of concern the student body on a couple of rumors about police issues TTie first was that the CEU police purchased a new police car complete with markings a light bar and EX plates The fact that the CEU police had no marked vehicle was cause for concern among the student body faculty members even members of the community The police however in response to these concerns made a decision several months ago to acquire a marked patrol car for use by Chief The ‘$Cfinj3IEntQM3iD ciri?HM4iiPi &&& PhylJohnson'sofliccrs many of whom now patrol campus in their own private vehicles or in the black Mustang The car a 1991 Chevrolet Caprice was acquired from state surplus for $16S0 The vehicle was purchased without using any college funds The money to purchase it comes from fines payed at the county court that are returned to higher education The vehicle was originally used by the Air Force military police prior to coming to CEU it has a book value of approximately $4000 The vehicle even came from the Air Force with maintenance tXafesiisi' 0 'JJjEEBfr SQp0pGp0n?k (Sfowtsi&ssm cgpMTprttTrp?rm tope© flgBHarai' G&pt&li aJ5j(jrrrtH--- ' QSrfiSifllM- - QlKT'ItKJ'W! ClHuSi5'-ijOLSBti!IT- new car: no rifles OEU Police: em&msmz) UsfiHI? i 'iEHfffr logs showing programmed maintenance on the vehicle The vehicle is exactly what is necessary to case the tensions around campus concerning CEU police vehicles There is just one catch the police have been ordered by administration to park the vehicle and not use it The reasons behind this originally appeared to be extremely President Grace Sawyer murky Jones commented that the reason is that a protocol is being developed concerning the use of this vehicle She acknowledges the fact that the police need a marked vehicle but the "cart got before the horse" so it is necessary to work through some issues before using the vehicle on the street The purpose of the vehicle according to Johnson will be to patrol as a shuttle vehicle if a student needs to be transported to the hospital for motorist assistance and to respond to situations if the CEU police called to assist the Department are ever of Public Safety Faculty and students at CEU seem to be divided on the issue of the new car Students seem tooverwhelmingly support the use of the new vehicle while many faculty members are divided about it's use Faculty comments have ail supportothers won- ing Chief Johnson while der why the police need another ve- hicle A bigger issue however seems to loom over the question of what vehicle should CEU police use There are Liability questions especially in light of the tragic accident last Sunday morning where a pedestrian was killed when struck by a university police car at the University of Utah The car was on its way to a call when the accident happened Attorney Brian Henson said that “there are certain liability issues if a police officer uses hisher own private vehicle in the course of his or her duties that must be seriously considered by the department In the case of CEU these issues must be examined by the college as they could have a serious impact on the college if litigation arose" A second rumor circulated around CEU's campus was the question of whether the police department had purchased 6 rifles This question raced through the student body like wild Are Chief Johnson easily responds to the issue "The department has not purchased any 6 rifles or for that fact any kind of automatic weapon” He further clarifies the question by stating 4 that the rifles were originally rifles and that he only inquired as to their availability The reason behind the inquiry is that CEU is a member of the Drug Enforcement Task Force for the Carbon County area and that the inquiry was made with this fact in mind It is typical for police departments to have some type of a tactical rifle Other departments have purchased similar rifles These departments include the Utah Highway Patrol Utah County Sheriffs Department Provo City Police and Salt Like County Sheriff which equipped itself with 6 M-1- M-1- M-1- M-1- rifles A couple of years ago a Utah county Sheriff officer was called on to rifle when an assailant use his 4 ambushed a fellow officer with a rifle downing that officer During the ensuing flrcfight the sheriff deputy moved in at a distance that favored his safety downing the assailant with the rifle thus saving the other officers life Johnson continues to stress that he is interested in the safety of eveiyone at CEU and his department exists soley for that purpose One police observer commented on the most recent controversies "Chief Johnson has a lonely job it is similar to what the chief of police experienced at BYU when the state legislature expanded their police powers The police chief that starts a new department in the publics eye can't seem to do anything right and everyone seems to be a critic" M-1- non-varia- off-camp- us (itmB&IBlBiMl Qfihiiii'' 91k ( l j n't-- t ' a'imiwAu n iu 'Ut StMirn(f (t- - m ) CEU's John Whitehead helps shovel sand Into bags In order to prepare for the risk of area flooding photo by Aaron Brockbank - |