Police not all wrong in apartment regulating

By The Wildcat Opinions Board

Two stories in yesterday's Wildcat described seemingly unrelated stories. At a campus-area party, three students were beaten up at a private house by seven unidentified men who were not invited to the gathering. The other story illustrated how residents living at Jefferson Commons were upset that Tucson police have red tagged a good portion of the complex because of repeated disturbance complaints.

These incidents might seem unrelated, but they each encompass an important issue on campus - the presence of police at private locations. Some people believe that officers have no business poking their noses in where they're not invited. True, residents do have a certain right to privacy, but Saturday morning's violence gives us an extreme example of what can happen if police completely ignore their enforcement duties at private locations.

Contrary to what some upset residents at Jefferson Commons believe, Tucson police are not overstepping their bounds with the recent red-tag blitz. That said, officers and apartment officials should also consider if other alternatives would provide the same result - giving residents a safe atmosphere without a large police presence on the property.

Jefferson Commons has attracted the attention of the Tucson Police Department on several occasions last year and this year. TPD has been called to the complex so often, in fact, that it felt the need to take regulation of the complex to the next level and brand the complex with red stickers. How such a measure is effective is still a mystery, but the TPD did take this action in response to disturbances.

Individual apartment windows, the complex swimming pool and the computer room were also plastered with the stickers.

For an entire apartment complex to be branded, and for all individual apartments to be blamed for the "unruly" behavior that takes place there, is unfair to the residents who are considerate and do not engage in disturbing behavior. Despite the number of times TPD has been forced to pay a visit to Jefferson Commons, it seems strange that the TPD would take such a dramatic measure to subdue the entire apartment complex.

But as is usually the case, this situation has two sides to it. It is an age-old puzzle how the police can effectively protect citizens. The puzzle is even more complex in an unpredictable environment where the risk of danger may be higher, such as a college campus. Ideally, law enforcement would always be present at parties where there is a threat of real danger. But accomplishing this is not possible.

Students need to realize that police officers have a responsibility to carry out the law. And, while plastering red tags around an entire apartment complex isn't the best answer to the problem, it sure beats what happened on the other end of Tucson on Saturday morning. The key is to find an appropriate balance of student privacy and police protection. Among other things, this will require cooperation and understanding from both parties.