On Thursday, April 2, the Student Government Association hosted an open forum for students to come discuss their concerns and complaints about the Farmville Police Department. Gregg Jarvies from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's police department came in to host the forum, along with Longwood Chief of Police Bob Beach.
"My discussions with the council and some of the background work I did before coming to Farmville last week indicated to me that the relationships between town and gown, particularly between the students and the police, were strained. To do an assessment of the police department without seeking feedback from one of the community's largest group of stakeholders would have been incomplete and inaccurate. Thus, my request of Dr. [Tim] Pierson [vice president for student affairs] to meet with members of the student body," said Jarvies.
"At the forum, I said how I was concerned about the fact that students get arrested for walking home from the bar, even if they are over 21, and are given a drunk in public ticket even if they are not stumbling, falling, etc. This pushes people to drunk drive more often in order to avoid getting these tickets, and that is the opposite of what should be happening and pushes us to be unsafe," said senior Jillian Klein.
"I think the DD program has lots of merit if it is run responsibly. There are many consideration involved in such a program that revolve around safety and legal issues. No one that drinks should drive. And a person that is attempting to be responsible by using such a program should not be discouraged. That being said there is also a need to operate a DD program with full open eyes to the responsibility that such a program brings with it," sad Beach.
"As to being afraid to report something because you have been drinking is also personal decision that must be made. All facts tell us that people that drink have reduced abilities to reason and react. They are more likely to find themselves in a position to be involved in an incident that requires police involvement. So what is the answer? Think and be responsible. If you are underage, make the personal choice not to drink. If you can legally drink, make the personal choice to drink responsibly," Beach added.
Jarvies would like to see a little more communication between the groups with a desire to understand each other. He said that just as it is wrong for police to lump every Longwood student into a group, it is just as wrong to lump every police officer into a group. He would like to see a process begin that allows for communications to occur and perceptions cleared up and the ability to express concerns and have them dealt with.
"Certainly the comments heard at the forum were bothersome. No matter the community, there is always some level of contention between college students and the local police. We have dealt with some of the same issues in Chapel Hill over the years that I heard at Longwood. And, it took many years for us to get our relationship with UNC students to where it is today. Farmville and Longwood need to work together so that they too can be partners rather than adversaries. My report will have some recommendations as to how those partnerships can begin to be formed," said Jarvies. Jarvies will report his assessment to the town council sometime in the near future.
