Ohio State will expand multiple safety programs, including an increased presence of both Ohio State and Columbus police. Credit: Lantern File Photo.
Ohio State announced Thursday that the university will expand multiple safety programs – including an increased presence of both the University Police and Columbus Police divisions – effective immediately, under acting university President Peter Mohler.
The university’s crime interdiction program will be expanded to increase evening and nighttime off-campus Columbus police patrols during fall and spring semesters. The police patrols will provide more visibility in the University District, the university’s release states, and the locations of them will be altered based on needs.
“The health and safety of our university community is our top priority,” Mohler said in the release. “We will continue to evaluate ways to improve our approach to safety on campus and in the surrounding neighborhoods. These new measures reflect that commitment.”
Columbus Police and the Ohio State Police Department have been working together for several years, with a 2012 mutual aid agreement that is still in effect today. When it was signed, the agreement included expanded jurisdiction and increased authority for University Police off campus, according to Lantern reports.
Ohio State has hired nine police officers since January of 2022 and five more will be recruited following Mohler’s plan, bringing the total university force to 75. The release states two of the new officers will join the joint patrol with Columbus Police in the University District.
This partnership has been a point of contention between students and the university in recent years. According to Lantern reports, the Undergraduate Student Government passed a unanimous resolution in April, condemning the Columbus Police.
The body claimed the department is “marred with racism, discrimination, prejudice and brutality” and asked the university to develop a plan to protect Black students on campus.
Monica Moll, Ohio State’s director of public safety, said the university is committed to working with city partners and they are talking daily about crime and crime trends.
“We are confident these increased resources will help Ohio State and our community partners make an impact in our effort to improve safety and security in the campus area,” Moll said in the release.
Other announcements under the plan include more mobile surveillance cameras, renewal of Buckeye Block Watch, which has non-police security teams in targeted areas in the University District, and the installation of two additional stops on the east side of High Street at University Square and South Campus Gateway through the Campus Area Bus Service On-Demand.
The plan comes in the wake of several major crimes committed off campus including the shooting of Ohio State wrestler Sammy Sasso, the brutal attack of a fourth-year student leading to severe injuries, a robbery of a student on campus off of 10th Avenue and the stabbing of Emily Foster, a well-known University District writer, according to Lantern reports.
According to Ohio State’s Community Crime Map, which replaced Neighborhood Safety Notice emails in 2022, there were at least 100 crimes within a half mile radius of North High Street since the first day of classes on Aug. 22. This includes at least 14 burglaries, 30 counts of motor vehicle thefts and seven assaults.
