UK Police keeping campus safe, must have more funding

February 5, 2009

There has been a lot to criticize when it comes to safety on UK’s campus, but the way UK Police patrol the Cat’s Path can only be applauded.

From Monday at 7 p.m. through Tuesday at 7 a.m., the Kernel conducted a survey to find out how often police patrol the Cat’s Path, which police say is the safest path through campus. During the survey, Kernel surveyors saw 35 squad cars drive by as well as at least four police officers on foot.

While UK Police is doing the best they can to keep students safe, they simply don’t have enough officers.

“I’d love to have more officers, but that’s something the budget situation doesn’t warrant right now,” Maj. Joe Monroe, UK’s interim police chief, said. “We are staffed adequately, could we use more officers? Yes. Are we understaffed? No.”

During a meeting with the Kernel’s editorial board, assistant vice president for public safety, Anthany Beatty, told the Kernel that UK President Lee Todd would take care of funding for anything that would increase campus safety. Hiring more officers to patrol the Cat’s Path is something Todd should take care of, if what Beatty said is indeed the case.

In addition to hiring more staff, UK needs to do a better job of publicizing the Cat’s Path as well as other safety programs. Safety features, such as UK Alert can be vital during an attack or campus crisis, but thousands of UK students do not utilize these features.

The Cat’s Path has been printed on the campus map for two years, discussed in UK 101, K Week and in the K Book, UK spokeswoman Kathy Johnson said. This is a good start, but many older students are still unaware of the Cat’s Path or don’t believe that it is different from walking anywhere else on campus.

While the Cat’s Path can’t guarantee a student’s safety, the patrolled route can certainly cut down the number of rapes and other assaults on campus.

UK Police is doing a commendable job in patrolling the Cat’s Path, but if students are unaware of it or the number of police patrollers can’t increase, the police’s efforts are in vain.