In a bold move supporting the U’s on-campus gun policy, the Division of Transportation and Parking Services announced Friday that all parking enforcement officers will now carry P-38 Lugar handguns.
The announcement, made by Parking and Transportation Services Director Arnold Clayson, detailed the service’s new system of ticketing?one that includes higher ticket fees and an increase in parking enforcement staff.
Campus officials hope to reduce incidence rates of illegal parking with a 34 percent larger ticketing staff, an employment demand that Clayson claims the handgun policy can help meet.
“I really think our campus officers are getting a bad rap, and [the department] decided it was time to give them a new image,” Clayson said. “We want our officers to be seen as the newest, hippest bad boys in town.”
Parking services employees favor the recent policy change, saying it will increase their authority in parking issues on campus.
One officer, George Karanski, claims that this year’s projected number of issued tickets has already decreased drastically since the announcement, even though the new handgun implementation will not take place until summer semester.
“I think it’s a respect issue. People see us on our bikes, and you know, bikes just aren’t very threatening.,” he said. “If a student knows I’m watching him and I’ve got a gun in my hand, frankly, he’s just going to be a lot more compliant to our parking ordinances.”
Catherine Boynam, parking coordinator, assures the success of the parking staff’s handgun usage in examining pre-existing policies of a similar nature at other universities.
“We’re not the first, by any means, to implement a weapons policy like this. In 1936, the University of Texas opened its campus parking force to handgun use, and to this day, there are no reported parking violations,” she said. “Then again, that’s just Texas.”
Clayson reported Tuesday that Parking and Transportation Services has received an influx of employment and volunteer applicants. The campus shuttle service is also considering a gun-carrying policy for all drivers.
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