Police should fight violent crime, not drug users

I have heard complaints recently from several members of the Duke community who believe that the Duke and Durham police are not "doing their jobs." This is in reference to the rapes and attempted rapes of this past year, as well as other violent crimes occurring on and around campus. We all should bear in mind that keeping this community even as safe as it is now is a huge undertaking for these officers.

We should also remember that as long as there are victimless crimes in the Duke community-say, someone smoking marijuana in his room on West or taking LSD in the gardens-we can't expect all our police officers to spend their time patrolling for violent criminals or investigating property theft. Yes, I am only one of many Dukies who spend their waking hours fearing the possibility that someone could, at this moment, be getting high and hanging out with friends.

I believe that I speak for the "silent majority" at Duke and in Durham when I say that the officers who arrest innocent pot-smokers could be out preventing violent crimes that occur while they are too busy knocking on students' doors to investigate "smells," smells that are surely a greater threat than a would-be rapist waiting in the bushes off East Campus with a knife or gun.