The Iowa State Department of Public Safety is the only campus security force in the Big 12 Conference whose officers are not allowed to carry guns.

The no-gun policy is also in effect at the University of Iowa, the only college in the Big 10 with the rule.

Campus security forces at all three state universities are required by the state Board of Regents to be unarmed departments, but students and law enforcement officials are divided on the issue.

Jon Gustason, a sophomore in pre-business who lives in Willow Hall, feels the campus would be a safer place if DPS officers carried guns.

“What would people expect them to do if a handgun was pulled on them?” he said. “Campus crimes could get serious enough for the use of guns, especially when students have been consuming alcohol.”

Loras Jaeger, director of DPS, said it’s a sensitive issue. “Seldom does law enforcement ever use service weapons, but when it is necessary, it is necessary,” he said

He said police officers who carry guns often go their entire careers without firing their sidearms.

“At the DPS, we follow rules and the Board of Regents feels strongly about us being an unarmed agency, and we respect that decision,” Jaeger said.

Thomas C. Dorr, a regent from Marcus, said he agrees with the no-guns policy the regents have set. “There are strong reservations about placing guns in the hands of DPS officers,” he said.

Dorr said young people are devilish and mischievous, more so than any other group of the population.

“Placing a gun in an officer’s hands with students being mischievous, someone could get shot inadvertently. Campus crimes at Iowa State are not serious enough for the DPS to carry firearms.”

Alicia Thomas, a resident in Willow Hall, agreed.

“If a situation is out of hand and the DPS officers cannot handle it without the use of firearms, then the city of Ames Police Department should be contacted,” she said.

Ames Police Chief Dennis Ballantine has a different view.

He said DPS officers should be armed in case of an emergency.

“If there is going to be people performing all functions of law enforcement, there should be proper tools in order to carry out those functions.”

The decision to allow officers on campus to carry guns should be left up to the president of the university and local leaders, Ballantine said, and not to bureaucrats.

“There are outstanding men and women at the DPS who have gone through the same training as our officers,” Ballantine said.