Both the University Police Department and the Oxford Police Department have AR-15 carbines that can be deployed as a last resort should the campus or city experience an active shooter or other emergency.
Chief Calvin Sellers of the University Police Department declined to comment on how many AR-15 carbines the department had.
“It is like telling the other side what play you are going to run,” he said in an email responding to the inquiry.
“We try to be proactive, but a lot of changes that take place seem to be reactive,” said Ray Hawkins, university assistant police chief. “Around the time of the Virginia Tech shooting, we felt there was a need to have additional resources in case we had a situation like that.”
The Oxford Police Department recently acquired 10 military style AR-15 carbines, which are kept in a locked mount in every marked patrol vehicle. This measure wasn’t done as a display of military prowess but rather as one of preparation.
“The ultimate goal here is to send these men and women back home every day,” James Owens, deputy police chief, said. “And if we can provide them with the tools they need to assist them in doing their job, then that’s what we wanted to do.”
The $12,000 purchase was approved by Chief Joey East of the Oxford Police Department. Officers at the department underwent training to use the weapons three weeks ago.
And their proactive preparation may be warranted.
The Washington Post published an article in June stating 74 school shootings have taken place since the mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, Dec. 14, 2012, according to a list maintained by the group Everytown for Gun Safety. Thirty-one of the 74 shootings were on a college campus.
This list includes assaults, suicides and discharged firearms, but the numbers as a whole demonstrate that students on college campuses do have access to firearms. This explains the reason why university police departments and departments in cities with universities want to be prepared for crisis situations.
“Hopefully these ARs only come out for training purposes, but should the need arise, that’s another tool at (the officers’) disposal,” Owens said. “And it could mean the difference between them going home and not being able to go home.”
Heavy weapon ownership by law enforcement agencies has become common across the nation thanks to the Department of Defense Excess Property Program, also known as the 1033 Program. This program allowed the Department of Defense, following the war in Iraq, to allocate military surplus property to law enforcement agencies. However, neither the Oxford nor the University police departments participated in the 1033 Program to obtain the guns.
The possession of firearms isn’t taken lightly, either. The Oxford Police Department ensures that officers qualify with all firearms quarterly while University police officers must qualify with their weapons twice a year. These weapons include the AR-15 carbines as well as a Glock handgun and 12-gauge shotguns.
If an officer is not proficient with any gun, he may be dismissed from the department, Owens said.
In addition to the AR-15 carbine, the Oxford Police Department also has a tactical unit, which has access to specialized weaponry.
“Our tactical unit has H&K, UMPs and tear gas and bean bag rounds as well,” East said.
The Heckler and Koch Universal Machine Pistol is a type of submachine gun used in law enforcement agencies across the country. They are compact and medium-ranged, making them easy to maneuver through crowds and buildings—an important quality in a crisis situation.
The bean bag rounds are also popular with SWAT teams and police forces because they act as less-lethal ammunition and are helpful in suppressing violent crowds. The small rounds travel at speeds of 250 to 300 feet per second. The rounds cause minimum long term trauma without skin penetration.
The University of Mississippi’s Associated Student Body President Davis Rogers said, “I do think it is necessary and beneficial to us to have officers that are armed on campus at all times. If we didn’t have people on campus with firearms in an active shooter situation, it would take a lot longer to get that situation under control.”
Sellers said his department has not obtained military items like given by the 1033 Program because he understands the implications of using militarized gear.
“If you dress a policeman up in all of this garb like Kevlar helmets and shields, they’re going to act like a soldier,” Sellers said. “It seems to me that if you’re dressed up in a helmet and a shield, you’re basically saying ‘Throw stuff at me.’”
Even without riot shields and helmets, students expressed concerns that they would like to be more knowledgeable about what types of weapons campus police officers have.
“I think that this is something the student body should be more aware of,” Rogers said. “It could be really beneficial if (the police department) opened up to the student body and provided seminars that could inform students about what officers have access to and how that helps in emergency situations.”
Despite any negative attitudes that have developed with the growing concern of militarization, both the Oxford and University police departments stand their ground about possessing assault weapons, and it all boils down to the main goal of the police force: protecting the community.
“Unfortunately, we live in a time of society where we need to be prepared,” Owens said. “We employ mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters, grandparents—we want them to have the tools necessary for them to do their job and go home at the end of the day.”
