College police forces’ rifles come under fire

Associated Press

BOSTON

Once a rarity on campuses, semiautomatic rifles are becoming a standard part of the arsenal for college police forces – firepower they say could make a difference the next time a gunman goes on a rampage.

The weapons are rarely seen in public and often stashed away in cruisers or at department headquarters, and many schools won’t talk about them. But federal data and Associated Press interviews and requests for records reveal that over the past decade, at least 100 U.S. college police agencies, and probably many more, have introduced rifles or acquired more of them.

The arms buildup has raised tensions on campuses, with debates over the need for such weaponry flaring at schools such as Boston’s Northeastern University, the University of Maryland and Florida State. A similar outcry over police use of military-style gear erupted in 2014 after the violence that broke out in Ferguson, Mo.

Police say rifles offer more firepower, longer range and greater accuracy than handguns.

“A bad shot with a rifle is better than a good shot with a handgun,” said Skip Frost, who until February was deputy chief of police at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which offers a semiautomatic rifle to every officer.

Some colleges have made the weapons available to SWAT-type units of officers who respond to risky situations; some have issued the guns to patrol officers. Either way, police are authorized to take up their rifles only in extreme cases, such as a shooting or reports of an armed person.

Most states also require police officers to undergo weapons-proficiency training at least once a year. Many campuses receive training from the FBI and U.S. Justice Department, which teach officers how to move quickly through buildings to take down a shooter.

“The reality is that these are not always handgun situations,” said FBI agent Katherine Schweit, the bureau’s senior executive in charge of active-shooter matters.

The AP sent records requests this year to 20 of the nation’s largest public universities for a list of their guns and for invoices from weapons purchases. Most of them refused, with several of them, such as Arizona State and Ohio State, saying releasing the information would jeopardize campus safety.