Years ago, someone tried to break into my home. Luckily, I was there and scared the burglar away before they entered. With the situation resolved, I decided it wasn’t worth “bothering” my local police department. I’d been a police officer many years when this occurred. I had counseled and, admittedly, lectured members of my community for similarly failing to notify police. Yet I didn’t follow my own advice. I completely understand why someone chooses not to report something.
My goal with this column is to hopefully convince everyone to become more comfortable with contacting UWPD any time they witness something that appears “off.”
My fellow officers and I regularly visit all areas of University Apartments. But our footprint is small, and with three communities spread over 80+ acres, we can’t be everywhere all the time. We rely heavily on the thousands of eyes and ears that live, work, and visit here to alert us about suspicious activity and other problems. Why don’t people call the police? Common reasons I hear include:
- They’re unsure if someone’s behavior is an actual violation
- A sense that something isn’t right, but a desire not to waste an officer’s time for a minor issue
- They prefer to make an anonymous report through other University channels
- Awareness of our own implicit biases, or concerns of being perceived as overly suspicious
There are many others. But I’m giving everyone permission to have suspicion. In my experience, most of us have a pretty good intuition of what’s right and wrong. “Trust your gut”, as one of my old training officers used to say. The more other officers and I know about activities in the community, the better-informed and more effective our response can be. Maybe we arrive and find someone’s actions are minor, and don’t warrant significant action. That’s ok! It happens all the time and we accept it as part of the job. But if we’ve had a string of recent reports for similar actions — especially about the same person or parties — it could change what action we take and how we decide to deter future occurrences.
In short: when in doubt, call it out.
For true emergencies, call 911. For non-emergencies, call UWPD directly at 608-264-2677 (264-COPS). We’re happy to check out the situation and, if justified, take appropriate action.
Jeff Kirchman
University Apartments Community Police Officer
608-264-2677 | jkirchman@wisc.edu
University Apartments Community Center, Room 131