I second Barry McCroskey’s Oct. 2 letter to the editor; the DPS officers at all three of Iowa’s universities need to be armed.

Many students don’t realize that the DPS officers are real police officers and not just campus security.

They all go through the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy (I.L.E.A.) with police officers and sheriff’s deputies from all over the state of Iowa. It is here that they receive the same training and are taught to do the same job as the rest of the police officers in Iowa. That job being to protect and serve their public.

The Iowa Board of Regents decided that if the DPS officers were armed, a student could be accidentally shot.

This is a ridiculous argument; I agree it could happen, but that is an argument of training; the training that these officers receive at the I.L.E.A. In order to do their job, and provide the ultimate level of service it is necessary for the DPS officers to be armed.

For this to happen the Board of Regents needs to think about their nonsensical policy before a DPS officer makes a routine traffic stop and becomes a tragedy.

Darin Van Ryswyk

Senior

Chemistry and Criminal Justice