Nearly every time I hear a story about someone being pulled over in Starkville, the officer in the story is always rude or outright mean to the person telling the story. I am aware of personal biases of the storytellers, but nearly every time I hear one of these stories it’s always about how mean the police officer was. I will grant an exception. Last spring some friends and I had a crawfish boil for Super Bulldog Weekend, and, long story short, the police were called. The two responding officers to our complaint were extremely nice and very professional. I even made a phone call later that week to the police station to compliment the two officers.
This article will probably get me on SPD’s radar for sure, but I am tired of how we’re treated because we’re college students. Then the police department wonders why municipal bond issuances are struck down to build a better police station and expand the police force by 25 officers. It’s because we’re already over-policed.
I’ve lived in Starkville for a few years now, and I’ve never been exposed to this kind of policing. When I say we’re over-policed, I mean if you have an MSU decal on your car, and it’s late at night, you better get ready to be under close scrutiny. I had a friend get pulled over for his tag light being out. I totally understand that your vehicle is supposed to be in full working order when on the road. But shouldn’t that be a Class B offense, where if you were pulled over for speeding you could get a ticket for no tag light, too?
Or is it even legal for a police officer to sit outside the parking lot of a bar or nightclub to pull people over? I understand deterrence, but this is outright intimidation. Whenever a police officer in the performance of their duty impinges on your decision-making when you’re fully legal in your actions, it is wrong. For example, police patrols that focus around banks on Fridays when there is a lot of money changing hands is good. Police patrols and presence to scare college kids is not. I understand that our peer group doesn’t always make the best decisions. But just as it is wrong to be stopped for being a certain color, does that also not extend to age?
Another night when we were having a late night at a friend’s house, someone called in a noise complaint. On this particular late night, there were maybe six of us there. Five police cars came speeding into the parking lot. The officer in charge immediately started screaming and shouting at us to get our hands up and then began to threaten to throw “every one of your asses in jail; I don’t care if I have to carry y’all all to Choctaw County to get you in jail, but you’re going.” At this point none of us had said anything to the police officer.
Then the officer said we all had to leave. People there had been drinking, and we didn’t have enough people to be drivers. Most folks planned to just crash at my friend’s house. The police knew we didn’t have drivers, so they just sat at the entrance to the parking lot to catch one of us leaving. Even if someone who was fine to drive left that parking lot, I have a hard time believing that they would not have gotten pulled over. Last time I checked, that’s entrapment. I am not stretching the truth on this at all. This really happened. We were some college kids sitting around just talking on my friend’s porch. Does it require five police cars to respond to a simple noise complaint? Again, where is the line drawn between intimidation and deterrence?
Also, instead of preying on college students, why aren’t the police dealing with vagrants that are running around the city? One night while getting gas, I watched one drunk vagrant go from gas pump to gas pump shaking people down for money. He scared one girl – the guy wasn’t mean, but I could tell the young lady was shaken. In my opinion he was committing strong-arm robbery. What if no one had been around and the guy was a serial rapist?
Speaking of rapists, there are nearly 30 registered sex offenders whose residence is listed as Starkville. That does not include non-compliant offenders that have not registered their place of residence, which is illegal. Are the police making sure that things like this are being taken care of in a place were there are about 8,000 female students living on and off campus?
There also has been a rash of burglaries and robberies around town lately. I have friends that live in the apartments behind the Veranda that say they have been broken into repeatedly. Another friend of mine has had his apartment broken into four times, and his apartments are close to Starkville High School. Also, why are students being robbed at gunpoint not even a mile away from our school on University Drive? We need to remember that our dollars pay for a lot of the money the city gets. It seems like the city fathers want all the juice and never give any squeeze.
So, here is what I’m going to do. Whenever you have an unpleasant encounter (mind you, not when you’re obviously in the wrong or drunk and trying to talk to a police officer) with one of our police officers, call the police station. Ask to speak to Police Chief David Lindley at 323-4134 or Oktibbeha County Sheriff Dolph Bryan at 323-2421. The calls you make do not have to be about bad experiences, either. It’s more important to call to compliment on how well officers conducted themselves than to criticize. Also, please e-mail me any stories you have about either good or bad experiences, to include any law enforcement officers that read this and want to write in. I want the students to know truly what our police force is like, not just seedy rumors and gossip. Please remember to include your name and school ranking. Your MSU e-mail would be helpful, too.
Police officers have a difficult job, and we should respect them for the role they play in society, but respect can be taken advantage of. This is not meant to be derogatory toward police. I really want to know more good police stories than bad. Perhaps all we have in Starkville is a perception problem caused by a few “bad apples” rather than a tainted police force.