-Caveat Lector- ...and the deterrent effect is difficult to measure. Another fascinating example of what the gun haters "think": Maybe the police could carry fake guns. http://news.excite.com/news/uw/010407/university-212 Marquette U. police say wearing guns makes them more effective Updated 12:00 PM ET April 6, 2001 By Becca Mader & Adam S. Kirby The Marquette Tribune Marquette U. (U-WIRE) MILWAUKEE -- In the minds of criminals, perception is reality. At least, that is the belief of Department of Public Safety Chief Larry Rickard and Crime Prevention Specialist Lt. Michael McNiel. They feel that officers who carry guns are more powerful on the streets and in the face of danger. Their thoughts aren't isolated. They echo those expressed by police and public safety officers from college campuses in rural areas such as Cornell University to urban centers such as the University of Detroit-Mercy. With arming "the perception from the criminal element is that you are the real police," said Chief Robert Morse of the Boston College Police Department. According to Morse, a weapon acts as a strong deterrent to criminals. In fact, some students -- including former MUSG President senior Andy Stith -- have wondered aloud if simply carrying a fake gun would have the same deterrent effect. McNiel said he thought having the gun is more important than actually using it. "Criminals really do look at us, and based on what they see, what equipment we have, they make a determination on whether they're going to resist us," McNiel said. "Having a firearm, the criminals will take us more seriously." When posed with the suggestion of carrying a fake gun, McNiel thought about the idea and pulled an unloaded dart gun from his file cabinet. He looked it over, cocked it and pulled the trigger. "This would look pretty real at night," McNiel said, further considering the fake gun. "But if you're in a situation where you're being faced with great bodily harm, would you rather the officer have a real gun or a fake gun to stop that person?" GUNS MORE THAN APPEARANCE Lt. Frank Dale, a 15-year veteran of the Loyola University Chicago Department of Public Safety, doesn't believe the specific purpose of arming is to deter crime. "It is not going to deter anything," Dale said. "I look at it as another tool to have in their system to utilize as necessary." Like Marquette, Loyola is a Jesuit institution located in a neighborhood with a relatively high crime rate. Yet despite the Loyola department's insistence that it arm its 26 officers, the university hasn't budged on the issue, Dale said. "Our recommendation is to arm," Dale said. "We are probably going through the same pangs that Marquette is going through. I sympathize with Marquette. I would go their route." But not everyone with experience in campus security agrees. Brendan Dooley, a 2000 Marquette alumnus and former public safety officer with the Milwaukee School of Engineering and Grossmont College in El Cajon, Calif., said arming DPS would create an undue liability for Marquette. "Having a gun can escalate a situation that doesn't need to escalate," Dooley said. "That's where I see guns as the biggest liability." Dooley -- who never carried a gun while on patrol -- said he understands why an officer would want to do so. However, he said any situation that might involve the use of a firearm is easily recognizable, and that the officer should immediately contact the Milwaukee Police Department without getting involved. "There should be nothing that public safety officers encounter that with proper presence can't be diffused with pepper spray or a baton," Dooley said. DETERRENCE IS HARD TO MEASURE Ever since the topic of arming arose, DPS and University President the Rev. Robert A. Wild have stressed that it would lead to deterrence. "Deterrence of crime is clearly something that we look for," Wild said in his open forum Tuesday in the AMU. "It is hard to measure, but it is something that we look for." Rickard stressed that deterrence can't be measured. He pointed out that LIMOs have made over 4 million transports since the 1980s, but there is no way to know how many crimes the LIMO program actually prevented. In addition, there are many factors that go into crime deterrence, and often the exact causes are impossible to pin down. "Really, if you think about it, the only way to know about a deterrent is to contact the criminals," McNiel said. Opponents of arming have attacked DPS because of its lack of statistics regarding crime reduction that other colleges have experienced since arming their campus security departments. The opponents argue that the proposal lacks substance because it cannot be backed up by cold, hard facts. However, finding those statistics can be a chore. Most college campuses that employ armed officers, such as Cornell University, Creighton University, Tulane University and even the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, have done so for over 20 years. According to Linda Grace-Kobas, a Cornell spokeswoman, universities didn?t begin reporting crime statistics to the FBI until the 1970s. Therefore, many colleges that employ armed officers cannot attest to whether or not the ups and downs in crime over the years have been due to the presence of weapons. "I cannot say whether there have been increases or decreases," said Sgt. James Orlando of the Detroit-Mercy Department of Public Safety. "There has not been a major change." ARMED DEPARTMENTS FEEL FIREARMS ARE BENEFICIAL Yet others advocate arming because of the urban environment they find themselves in. "I would suggest (arming)," said Officer Gary Gray of the Community Oriented Policing Division at Saint Louis University. "There are things that happen in the urban environment that don't happen in a rural environment." Saint Louis is located in an urban environment, Gray said, and has been rated as a college campus with the lowest instance of crime. With 120 officers and 12 supervisors, it is considered one of the largest departments in the Midwest. The whole department is not armed, however. "Sure, I have seen a noticeable decrease in crime," Gray said. But he attributes the decrease to more factors than just the presence of guns. "It is a combination of arming and having the force to be out there," Gray said. "These criminals come armed today with everything." Most officers the Tribune interviewed from college campuses with armed public safety or police departments agreed that arming was beneficial not only for the protection of the students but also for the officers. "It is mostly for the safety of the officers and campus people," said Dave Peterson, associate director of the Creighton Department of Public Safety, which has armed its officers since 1979. "Seventy-five percent of people (officers) deal with are armed in some form or fashion," Dale said. "You are putting them at risk to stop people on the streets, to go in unauthorized areas or to apprehend felons with nightsticks and flashlights." Should the arming proposal be approved, there would be extensive training and FBI screening of officers. DPS estimates the start-up costs for training and equipment will be about $28,000. Ongoing training and maintenance costs would be about $5,000 a year. The added expense and training required to arm officers will pay off, Morse said. "It requires tremendous training because of the liabilities of carrying a firearm," Morse said. "But it is beneficial because it is a better-quality officer in the long run because of the training involved." 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