Duke Police to add patrols on city streets

Drunken revelry last August prompted Duke officials to act

BY HUNTER LEWIS hlewis@heraldsun.com; 419-6651

Duke Police will begin their off-campus patrols Wednesday, three days before students' annual back-to-school parties in the rental houses around East Campus.

Last August, the drunken revelry so frustrated community residents that the Durham Police stepped up patrols and began citing students for noise-ordinance violations.

The outrage also set in motion the added patrols by Duke. After receiving dozens of angry phone calls and e-mails about the parties, Duke officials promised to step up the Duke Police patrols as early as January.

But Duke Police Chief Clarence Birkhead said it took several months to recruit and train new officers because of tough competition for new recruits among the Triangle's cities, surrounding towns and universities.

"Being in an area that's rich in law enforcement but not always rich in recruits, it makes it a little difficult to get folks in here in a timely fashion," he said.

The extra police presence is expected to cost Duke about $300,000 annually. Duke has 60 police officers now and two vacancies, Birkhead said.

In July 2003, state lawmakers approved a bill allowing Duke Police to patrol the streets beyond campus. The city already had approval for a similar agreement with the N.C. Central University Police Department, which is part of state government.

This spring, Duke and the city signed a patrol agreement, giving campus officers the authority to patrol the entire city. Birkhead said their priority will be Ninth Street, Broad Street and the neighborhoods that border East Campus, including Old West Durham, Trinity Park, Trinity Heights and Walltown.

Some Trinity Park residents said they welcomed the added patrols.

Gunther Peck, a Duke history professor and his wife, Faulkner Fox, a creative writing instructor, live on Watts Street and witnessed the "debauchery" last year. As Duke faculty and Durham residents, they said they care about the well being of both the students and the neighbors.

"[The patrols] will be helpful," Peck said. "Last year was clearly out of control."

Peck looked out his window around 1 a.m. during last year's back-to-school revelry and saw a student urinating on his house. But the drunk driving and vomiting in the street disturbed him most, he said.

"I can't imagine it will repeat itself," he said. "The police, I'm sure, will respond."

Meantime, one student said Duke should be spending money to better secure the campus before patrolling off campus.

Senior Julie Hutchinson, who will move into a Duke-owned apartment on Central Campus Monday, said she's been waiting three years for better security since a student was assaulted in her Randolph Dormitory when Hutchinson was a freshman.

Two sexual assaults reported by students in March also led many students to decry the state of security on campus. Police responded by promising stepped-up patrols.

Hutchinson also criticized Duke for spending $500,000 to outfit incoming freshmen with Apple iPods when the university could have spent the money on card readers in the dorms or panic buttons.

"Some of that money could be re-allotted on campus where it's needed," she said. "It seems they should be more willing to make changes on campus, where a majority of students live rather than make your priority to patrol Durham neighborhoods."

Birkhead said Duke has enough officers to adequately patrol on and off campus.

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