The Boston University Police Department and BU fraternity members battled Wednesday in the first BUPD Dodge-A-Cop dodgeball tournament coordinated by PRLab.
The hourlong free tournament on the fourth court of the Fitness and Recreation Center kicked off with a 10-minute presentation on Halloween safety and concluded with pizza.
Of the eight teams, each consisting of six students and one BUPD officer, Pi Kappa Alpha earned the grand prize: BU athletic crew socks.
Cameron Felton, a senior in the College of Communication and account executive of PRLab, said he initially proposed Dodge-A-Cop because of a similar event at his high school. He said his relations with the Interfraternity Council as a member of Pi Kappa Alpha allowed him to directly orchestrate the tournament with numerous fraternities.
“A lot of the people are excited more about the idea of doing it, so we had a pretty good turnout,” Felton said.
Dodge-A-Cop closed out BUPD’s Police Week, a week of events that usually addresses awareness, safety and other concerns, BUPD Lt. Patricia Murphy said. Police Week usually takes place in November, but she said it was moved up this year to inform students before the Halloween season.
During this time, students often over-indulge in alcohol or drugs or engage in other vulnerable and risky behaviors, BUPD Chief Kelly Nee said.
Police Week is a form of outreach BUPD undertakes annually, Nee said.
“We want to engage with the members of our community during good times,” Nee said, “and then you develop trusting relationships or at least a familiarity. So once in a while, something bad happens and you have to call the police, at least you’ve already interacted with us in a way.”
The safety presentation covered social host laws along with the legal and academic consequences of underage drinking and overserving. While reminding students about BUPD’s number located on the back of their student IDs, Nee stressed that they should not hesitate to call in times of trouble.
BUPD officers volunteered to do community outreach during Police Week, Nee said — from Monday to Wednesday in the George Sherman Union, they offered free coffee, donuts, candy, bubble tea and raffle tickets.
The goal of Police Week was not only to increase interaction with BUPD officers in general, but also to connect BUPD with particular groups of students, said COM senior Amy Rivera, an account executive for PRLab.
“We wanted to reach out to international students, which was why we bought boba tea for one of the days,” Rivera said, “and specifically [Dodge-a-Cop] for Greek life, because we wanted to hit different niches for the BU community.”
Police Week achieved 300 to 400 interactions between students and police officers, while Dodge-A-Cop achieved 100, Rivera said.
Face-to-face connection is a great way to convey that BUPD is a positive, constant presence on campus, Murphy said, and that officers are there for the students.
“We’re open 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Murphy said. “So at any point, they can come to any of our officers and seek any type of help that they need.”
PRLab works with BUPD to make officers more approachable, program faculty co-director Justin Joseph said, and to emphasize BUPD is there for the students, not against them.
“That way, they’re seen not just as a police force, but certainly as a resource, as an asset to the BU community,” Joseph said.
PRLab Account Supervisor Nane Vardanyan said PRLab organized the tournament because they thought it would allow students to have “lively conversation” and a closer connection with BUPD.
“BUPD wants to become more human to students, more friendly, so that everyone who lives on campus and is part of the BU community will feel free to refer to policemen if they need any help or they need to know about something related to safety,” Vardanyan said. “So in this way, we thought that playing is the best way to engage with each other.”
Sean Kargman, a senior in the Questrom School of Business, advanced with his fraternity, Phi Kappa Tau, to the semi-finals with BUPD Sgt. Brett Rand.
“I think they should definitely do this again,” Kargman said. “PKT is going to be recognized next year, so we’ll probably have a bigger presence here, and we’re going to take the chip next year.”
