At its best, the police liaison position in the residence halls will protect students from getting caught drinking under age. It may even protect someone from being assaulted.

“If I arrest somebody for PAULA — possession of alcohol under the legal age — I could stop that person from being sexually assaulted, being a victim of another crime or sexually assaulting another person,” reasoned Elliot Slorer, the ISU patrol officer serving as police liaison in Richardson Court.

It makes sense other than the one obvious fault: There is already someone in the dorm charged with doing that job: the community adviser. To have a position duplicated seems like a waste of money, especially in these dire times of budget shortfalls.

Of course, the cost of these officers is very little, said ISU Police Capt. Gene Deisinger in a recent Daily article — which is to say very little in monetary costs.

The reason for the low cost is because the officers will make their residence hall rounds during their normal shift.

But this is where the overlap starts to have significant costs due to the duplication with CAs. Although the CAs watch for underage alcohol in the dorms, so do the officers, meaning dorms have double the coverage, while some areas on campus are left vulnerable.

However, acknowledgment must be made that one of the motives of the liaison — to prevent sexual assaults — is compelling. Many of the assaults that occur are never heard about, either because they are not reported or they slip under the media. Between the years of 2000 and 2002, the number of forcible sex offenses reported was 13 in the residence halls, and the actual number is probably much greater. The number of reported offenses on campus not in the residence halls was four for the same time period, although presumably some also went unreported.

But this begs the question: Will a police presence in the dorms improve matters? Speculation says probably not. These liaisons will not be spending a significant amount of time in the residence halls; it will just be part of their rotation. They will also be patrolling only hallways, which generally is not where these crimes take place.

It would be more effective to train CAs to be more diligent in watching for these types of crimes. These are the supervisors in the hall; they know the kids better than any officer who does a walk through of the building ever will.

If this program is going to cost very little, then put that small amount of money to better use and keep all of campus as safe as possible.