9/28/2011: (Edited in response to an anonymous comment.) Sanne Godfrey of the ODE reports that Frances Dyke and Doug Tripp are all but sure to get final approval for a fully sworn, armed UO Police force, at the 10/7/2011 OUS meeting. And Bill Graves of the Oregonian reports that the Oregon court of appeals has upheld the right of concealed carry permit holders to bring their own weapons to campus:
Rep. Kim Thatcher, R-Keizer, supported the firearms foundation in its suit and called the ruling a vindication for gun owners. She said she was concerned both about the university system’s restrictions on guns and its overstepping its authority.
“How many other agencies are out there making up rules outside the law?” she asked. “I don’t have a problem with someone carrying a gun on campus. That should make it safer to be on campus, to have a law-abiding citizen carrying a gun.”
I hope this ends peacefully. So did the dude in the sombrero below, with his hands held high. But the history is not good – the man in the green shirt was an undercover UCF campus police officer, Mario Jenkins. Here’s what happened – as described in his memorial on the Officer Down website:
Corporal Mario Jenkins was shot and killed by an Orlando police officer who mistook him for an armed suspect at a University of Central Florida football game.
He was working a plainclothes assignment with other university police and Florida Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco agents, to combat under age drinking at the football game.
Corporal Jenkins had approached a group of students and identified himself as a police officer. As he began to question them, the students became belligerent and a scuffle ensued. During the scuffle, Corporal Jenkins’ service weapon was discharged. The shots attracted the attention of a nearby Orlando police officer who immediately responded to the scene. The officer, unaware of Corporal Jenkins’ identity, fired three shots and mortally wounded him. …
A news report says:
Jenkins’ supervisor admitted to having let him go into the crowd without backup, even after telling Jenkins he needed backup.”It was an error,” said UCF Police Chief Richard Turkiewicz. “Major Mingo was distracted over paperwork.”
What happened to Richard Turkiewicz, the UCF police chief who set up this botched operation? Frances Dyke hired him as UO’s interim DPS Director. No kidding.
Meanwhile, what’s happening with the group of UO faculty, staff, and students that was set up to oversee the police transition and figure out how to deal with the inevitable problems? Who knows, their website is way out of date. Looks like they haven’t met since March.
This is going to be a disaster. The oversight committee is out of the way. The legislature was fooled into believing this would not cost much more money. The administration sees this as a way to put themselves in the history books. Dougie Tripp gets a nice raise and will get another since he will officially have the police chief title and a fat police retirement. And who pays for this? The students. Brand new Chevrolet Tahoes. Guns. Cops. Lawsuits. No oversight committee. All brought to you by the genius of soon to be former VPFA Frances Dyke. I wonder if OUS will do the responsible thing and say no to this ludicrous idea on October 7th.
And I’m sure Dougie Tripp will use the court of appeals ruling as yet another excuse why UO should have cops. I know it makes no sense to argue that legal gun permit holders would pose a risk but we are talking about people who would argue that blue books could be potential weapons and ergo the need for armed campus cops. Sounds ridiculous but I do not doubt these people will use any excuse they can to get a raise and guns.
The House and Senate passed the campus cops bill, the Governor signed the campus cops bill. The OUS Board and the OUS Chancellor are appointed by the Governor. Seems to me the OUS bobbleheads will do whatever the Governor, the House, and the Senate want. Face it folks a full sworn armed campus police department is right around the corner. If you don’t like it go somewhere else, they probably pay better anyway. And ol’Franny wouldn’t be able to do anything this big without Lariviere’s blessing. As far as oversight, something needs to be setup with the faculty and/or staff, people who have a vested interest in police on campus. The students/children should have little to no say, they are here to learn, not make campus policy decisions.
Why can’t EPD just set up a substation at the UO and just let Public Safety dole out parking permits and bike passes? I’m no lover of police in general but surely we don’t want our central administration overseeing a bunch of armed amateurs…
Dog says
There are many “legal and technical” problems with EPD having an official “substation” on campus. Long story short – there are not enough EPD officers, on paper, to handle this new “community” – its just not gonna happen – so we are stuck with amateurs – which I agree is never good.
I’m sick and tired of seeing the photo of Mario Jenkins shown on this site.
He was a good friend, and a friend of mine who attends UO sent me a link months ago when you started to characterize his actions as some kind of political statement about campus police.
Please check your facts, Mario Jenkins was a good man and a great officer. He served in the USMC and with a local municipal department here in Florida before moving over to the UCF Police.
A quick internet search would have provided you with this from the Officer Down Memorial Page, which took the information from the offical, outside-agency investigation into his tragic line-of-duty death.
“Corporal Mario Jenkins was shot and killed by an Orlando police officer who mistook him for an armed suspect at a University of Central Florida football game.
He was working a plainclothes assignment with other university police and Florida Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco agents, to combat under age drinking at the football game.
Corporal Jenkins had approached a group of students and identified himself as a police officer. As he began to question them, the students became belligerent and a scuffle ensued. During the scuffle, Corporal Jenkins’ service weapon was discharged. The shots attracted the attention of a nearby Orlando police officer who immediately responded to the scene. The officer, unaware of Corporal Jenkins’ identity, fired three shots and mortally wounded him.
On February 2, 2007, the suspect who started the scuffle by grabbing Corporal Jenkins was sentenced to two concurrent six months terms after pleading guilty to battering a police officer and obstructing justice.
Corporal Jenkins had served with the University of Central Florida Police Department for 3 years and was posthumously promoted to the rank of corporal. He was a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and had previously served with the Clermont Police Department for 1 year. He is survived by his wife.”
I wasn’t there, I don’t know what transpired. Information at the time indicated that the suspect (who was convicted of lesser charges) attempted to grab Jenkin’s out of his holster, and it was fired during the following struggle. There was never any proof that he fired his gun in the air, or otherwise was careless in his attempts to control a drunken crowd of combative people.
Push your agenda if you want, but don’t drag down a dead man to do it. My biggest fear is that his widowed wife might stumble upon this site someday.
Oh, and as a note… there have been university police here in Flordia for years and years… no problems for anyone except criminals who try and victimize students, employees and faculty of colleges.
Omg the truth on UO matters?? Wow hell is getting cold
Maybe we need armed campus police, maybe we don’t. I haven’t yet heard an honest discussion about the costs – including the possibility of tragic incidents as happened with Officer Jenkins – from the UO administration. Just scare tactics, including many stories from Doug Tripp.
But it’s too late now for a debate. UO is going to have a sworn, armed police force. There will be incidents and grievances. We need an effect oversight committee. We don’t have one. We don’t even have a plan for one. Unbelievable.
One question that needs addressing – will the UO police be conducting undercover efforts to bust tailgating parties?
Another: if the DPS is really pursuing a community policing model, why is it that the only time I see them is cruising on the edges of campus in their 4×4’s?
This is a done deal. I don’t trust Frances Dyke to get it right – no one does. This is why UO is searching for her replacement. Meanwhile, who is running this place?
In response to the anonymous comment above: I have linked to the Officer Down website memorial and used their language in the edited post. I apologize for offending you with the previous description.
Thanks for your comments on this. Obviously I do have an agenda here – and I believe that the incident that led to Officer Jenkins’ death is, unfortunately, completely relevant to that agenda.
I don’t think anyone here blames Jenkins. However, Tripp is culpable and now he’s here set to head up a similar operation. I wonder if he learned anything from Jenkins’ death. You bet your life, UO community…
Ask Doug Tripp where he buys his police cars.
Why is DPS driving 4×4 SUVs instead of smaller fuel efficient vehicles for campus patrols? Will it be because once they get their cop license and guns, they can start chasing speeders out on I-5 to goose their revenue like Coburg did for many years? Or running around town competing with EPD? Its interesting seeing sheriff deputies out on OSP’s I-5 turf nabbing speeders when LCSO complains about being so short-handed that they can’t patrol rural areas, respond to rural calls in general and had to cut back on the jail.
To anonymous who said Tripp is culpable: Reading comprehension must not be your strong suit. Tripp was never at UCF, that was the previous director who is no longer at the University. If you are going to write a comment, please make sure you have a clue about what you are talking about. I don’t care if you want to bash the man, just make sure it’s relevant and actually has a basis in facts.
Anonymous above is correct. The UCF Chief was Turkiewicz, he left UO after a scandal involving some junket to Florida. His replacement, Kevin Williams left mysteriously under circumstances Dyke will not explain. Current DPS Director Doug Tripp was hired from Wisconsin and had nothing to do with any of this.
Tripp was one of three finalists for the DPS director job in 2007. FD hired Kevin Williams as the director and hired the runner-up, Tripp, as the deputy dog. When FD “promoted” Williams to Senior Campus Security Planner in the spring of 2009, Tripp was promoted to interim DPS Director. This was announced in a March 9th, 2007 E-mail message with the subject line: “deans-dirs: Department of Public Safety Changes.” Shortly thereafter (about a month later, as I recall) Tripp was made the permanent DPS director.
Turkiewicz applied for the director’s job while he was interim director, but never made the short list of three finalists. He left in the summer of 2007 before Williams took over in late August 2007. Williams apparently was still on the payroll for another two years or so after his promotion to Senior Campus Security Planner, then disappeared completely.
Thanks, all knowing anonymous person.
Sure enough, Kevin Williams is on the Feb 2009 payroll for $115,114. VP Frances Dyke will spend a lot of UO money to cover up her own mistakes.
Kevin Williams is now a Commander with the Arizona State University Police.
http://asunews.asu.edu/20110722_PDchanges