Burnt Orange Report

I have a suggestion for the Democrats if you want safety where you live. Why don't Democrats and liberals in general start supporting their police and law enforcement departments instead of reflexively siding with criminals and the evil doers everytime something bad happens. When was the last time you saw one of the liberals on the Austin city council, the American Statesman, stick up for the police? Not to mention the Austin Chronicle that trashes the police every 15 minutes, buts seems to have NO problem with the criminals.
Another example is when Midtown Live burned down. The liberals were gnashing their teeth when police make smart-aleck comments after having to make 128 police calls ... that is ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-EIGHT police calls to that pit in the past one year. Yet the liberals trash the police and not the folks who throw parties for criminals?
Another you can do is buy a GUN and learn how to use it and carry it own your body. It is no guarantee of safety, but at least you have a fighting chance on a dark street with no one around. Just common sense solutions. Take care.

Emergency call boxes are a good idea ... but often they are not maintained which would not do anyone any good.

Right. We should all have guns. Like the 8-year-old who shot a 7-year-old girl in the arm at a day care center in Maryland after bringing one of his father's guns to the day care with him. Or the 15-year-old from Florida who brought a modified pellet gun to school, only to be shot by a sheriff's deputy. Just two examples of what's happened in the last two weeks.

Or, maybe we should look at what happened right here in Austin, with Officer Julie Schroeder and Sergeant Don Doyle, when Officer Schroeder shot and killed Daniel Rocha. Daniel Rocha, by the way -- according to the evidence and according to the Cheif of Austin Police, Stan Knee -- was not trying to hurt the officers and shouldn't have been shot at, especially considering the danger it posed to Sergeant Doyle.

Robert, guns don't make us safer. They only increase the possbilities of danger. Of course we need to support local police departments -- and everyone on all ends of the spectrum does. But when minorities are subjected to racist remarks and when minorities are the only ones to have been killed by the APD in many years, it's an issue worth raising.

Or look in the Austin area where a month ago a 3-year shot his 5 year old brother. This call box initiative in not a "liberal" thing. It's collaboration between students at all ends of political spectrum wanting make campus safer. So if you're a cynical conservative that's scoffing at this proposal simply because it's on a liberal webpage, I advise you evaluate the actual issue and stop looking at everything as "us vs them".

The Call Box initiative is not political. It spans political affiliation and to bastardize this benevolent agenda with conservative banter is morally corrupt! Get over it!!!!

How many students don't have cell phones? The cost of these call boxes likely will exceed any benefit that the call boxes will provide. The money would likely be better spent on better lighting and more foot patrols.

Aren't these call boxes the same things as on campus? What makes them better than cell phones is that they easily identify where a person is. A dispatch can be sent to the location within five minutes -- and sometimes, as quick as thirty seconds. Going through west campus, students won't necessarily know where they are. The call boxes identify that for you. What's more, they get you straight to the campus police -- whereas calling 9-1-1 (which most students would automatically do), would get you the Austin police, who can't respond as rapidly. Campus police are always circulating the campus area, and are stationed right by the stadium (a one-minute shot down Dean Keeton).

Finally, they cost approximately $2,500. Increasing foot traffic would require you to hire more officers, which is much, much more expensive. What's more, a person on foot who is eight blocks away won't necessarily get somewhere as fast as a patrol car could. What's more, if a person pressed the box because they've been seriously injured, an officer on foot would have to wait for a patrol car to come anyway. The call box takes out that middle delay.