LIFESTYLES UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, September 6, 1995
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KU police cars get second pair of eyes
Video cameras on dashboard catch the action
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By Scott Worthington Kansan staff writer
People pulled over by KU police this year might be the subject of a short film. Since July, two of the department's marked police cars have been equipped with video cameras, which allow police to record what transpires while interacting with suspects.
The footage can be used as evidence in a court if needed, said KU police Sgt. Rose Rozmiarek.
needed units not
"It's basically another pair of eyes for the officer in case something comes up." Rozmiarek said.
The cameras are small and mounted on the dashboard of the car, and a monitor sits just below it. A control panel is mounted on the roof and a VCR is located in the trunk. Officers wear a microphone to record sound. The cameras automatically begin recording when the overhead lights are activated, or they can be started manually. Each system cost the department $4,000. Rozmi-ek said.
Officer Cindy Alliss of the KU police looks into a video camera inside the police car. The KU police department has recently started using video cameras in all squad cars.
The primary reason the department invested in the cameras was to lessen the time officers spend in court, Rozmiarek said.
"It is basically another pair of eyes for the officer in case something comes up."
Rose Rozmiarek KU police sergeant
"We spend a lot of time in court, which takes officers away from their normal duties on the street," she said.
Rozmiarek said the department hopes defendants and their attorneys will be less likely to go to court because of the power and clarity of video tape.
ment had lost authority to fill two of the positions and did not have the money to fill the other three.
The Douglas County Sheriff's Department has had video cameras in nine police cars for about a year and hasn't had a videotaped case go to court, said Undersheriff Don Schwartz.
"For example, in a DWI situation, when a defense attorney sees his client on tape, he usually doesn't want to go to court," Schwartz said.
According to Maj. Ralph Oliver, the KU police depart-
The cameras and the development of an on-line service this year are evidence that the department has committed itself to new technology.
Ozrmiakre said less time in court translates into more efficient use of human resources, which has declined recently because of a 3 percent budget cut. A staff of 36 people four years ago had shrunk to 31, she said.
Officer David Haney said he thinks the presence of a camera could deter violent behavior during stops.
Kathleen Driscoll/
KANSAN
"I hate to say it, but with our budget cuts and cut in manpower, that's what we have to look at," Rozmiarek said. "It's how we can provide the same service with less people. And the only way we could do that was with advanced technology."
"When they look at what we paid for it, people will probably say, 'Oh my God, that's a lot of money.' But when dealing with officer safety, we really can't put a
price on it."
Rozmiarek said the department hoped the cameras would pay for themselves not only by keeping officers out of court but by keeping them safe.
"It it would probably help keep people from being out of control or belligerent if they knew they were being recorded and being videotaped all the time," Haney said. "But in some cases it probably wouldn't matter." Haney also said cameras could deter accusations of police brutality.
"With a camera, I'm not worried about any false accusations, because all I'm doing is my job," Haney said.
"Before that, it's your word against theirs."
Rozmiarek said the department currently has no plans to add more cameras.
With a camera, I'm not worried about any false accusations, because all I'm doing is my job."
David Hanoy KUpoliceofficer
Band's frontman learns about life and fatherhood
Blind Melon singer heads in new direction
The Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA — Blind Melon's Shannon Hoon is too busy learning about himself to worry about the pressures of following up an immensely successful debut album. The band's new project, "Soup," is full of Hoon's self-examination and self-criticism.
He's a new dad and he's now keenly aware of the ramifications of his behavior and his new responsibility.
"Having a child can make you re-evaluate how you need to be there," Hoon says. "I need to start caring about myself if I'm going to be the proper father."
"It's something that I couldn't even imagine how to prepare myself for," he said. "It makes being here and doing this a little bit harder, because I'm going to be a father longer than I'm going to be a singer.
He based the song "New Life" on the awe he felt when he learned his girlfriend was pregnant.
"This is all fun and youth-prolonging, but I want to be a father, and it's hard to be when you're away."
It took nearly 300 live dates for Blind Melon's debut to hit the top 10, where it stayed for over a year, and for its single, "No Rain," to gather plenty of radio and MTV airplay.
But the rush of success led to a tough year for Hoon, who writes lyrics for the group's songs and is lead singer. Mixed reviews followed the band's appearance at Woodstock '94, and Hoon was arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct in New Orleans during the making of the new record.
The band's success, he said, "made me realize that all these people who complain about the fame aspect of this and
how their privacy has been invaded are missing the whole impact that this makes.
"I know that sounds selfish, but you have to look at what it's doing to you personally — are you frustrated because of the way people perceive you, or are you happy enough about the things you've realized about yourself that you can tolerate the way people perceive you?"
"I don't care about what or how any of these affects anybody else's life but my own," he said.
"Soup" is a spicy mix of hard-edged guitar, jazz-like improvisation, and erratic rhythms. The tracks are a little harder to grab on to than those on the first record; there's no clear single, like "No Rain," which has irked some critics.
Each member — Hoon, guitarists Christopher Thorn and Rogers Stevens, bassist Brad Smith, and drummer Glen Graham — contributed to the songs. Hoon enjoys the tension that ensues when the five get together.
"I think that the writing has gotten a little bit better, I think it's more diverse. (But) you risk the chance of losing a lot of people, because some people don't like to jump around the board musically like we do."
"Good!" he said. "That's what I think I like the most about the record ... It is a good book, instead of a few good chapters.
But Hoon's happy about that.
"I think it just becomes a matter of respecting the people that you create with," he said. "You don't have to be best friends. Tension is a very inspiring and very creative element in this band."
"It definitely tests your will — New Orleans is no place for a frustrated metabolism," he said.
Recording in New Orleans made the pressure of writing a sophomore effort easier to deal with, Hoon said.
"There's so much to do there and there's so much that the city offers, your
"She's just very simple and doesn't take a lot of things for granted," he said. "That sums up her beauty. She always says, 'I love you' when you depart from her presence, because she always feels like that's the last time you could ever see each other."
"That sadistic part of your mind makes you watch something like that in its entirety so that you can realize a little bit about (yourself)," he said. "We were all sitting there arguing about a monitor mix and that happened — it made me realize how much the monitor mix has nothing to with the big picture.
He based "St. Andrew's Fall" on seeing a young woman jump from a building to her death in Detroit.
The shimmering, blues-tinged "Vennie" is about Hoon's grandmother. It it's rife with detail, describing her "collection of glass chickens" and "the cupboard jar of pickles never opened since 1983."
"You learn so much about yourself through tragic scenarios ... I think it just made me realize things that you take for granted."
day is not built around recording a record. We weren't just down there to make a record — we were down there to blow out all the cobwebs in every part of your body."
And "Car Seat (God's Presents)" came from his horror over the Susan Smith case in South Carolina. Smith was sentenced to life in prison for drowning her two young sons.
"I think that just the whole crime against children is hideous and it's the one thing that makes me believe that capital punishment is all right," he said.
"That whole scenario brought a spiritual awakening to a lot of people. It brought out a caring identity in people who are parents, in people who might not be a parent but love children. That's what it did to me."
Women continue to battle for entrance into Citadel
The Associated Press
The Citadel in Charleston, S.C., had tried to keep Faulkner out based on her weight, which was never disclosed. A school spokesman had said that Faulkner was 20 pounds over weight requirements and that the school doctor had recommended she be reiected.
A cross-country runner, Mellette said that her best time in the two-mile run was 13 minutes and that she recently did 28 sit-ups in 30 seconds.
OAK RIDGE, N.C. — Nancy Mellette, a 17-year-old cadet who wants to march at The Citadel, said yesterday that she was up to the physical challenge school officials tried to use to keep out Shannon Faulkner.
"I can do pushups pretty well, too," she said at a news conference at Oak Ridge Military Academy, the military academy about 30 minutes north of Greenspore that she attends.
Faulkner was taken to the infirmary with heat exhaustion the first day of rigorous training and dropped out a week later.
Mellette of Irmo, S.C., said she had hoped to serve under Faukner and had not expected to pick up the battle for the right of women to attend the state-supported military college.
Asked her weight, Mellette replied, "Don't you know you're not supposed to ask women that question, sir?"
Lawyers challenging The Citadel's all-male status last week asked a judge to allow Mellette to enter Faulkner's lawsuit. If that isn't allowed, Mellette probably will file a separate lawsuit, attorney Val Voildik said.
But Claudius Watts, president of The Citadel, said Tuesday that it didn't matter
whether Mellette joined the lawsuit because the courts should rule by fall 1996 whether an alternative women's program at Converse College in Spartanburg, S.C., was constitutional. If it is not, Mellette and other women could join the all-male corps of cadets.
Mellette's attorneys said they were not con- convinced the matter would be resolved by the courts in time for her to begin school next fall.
Mellett said the alternative, state-subsidized leadership program at Converse College didn't equal The Citadel.
And he said the cadets who celebrated after Faulkner decided to leave were not celebrating her failure. "The cadets were letting off steam," he said. "They were relieved the pressure had been let off them."
Mellette said she also was interested in applying to the U.S. Military Academy, the U.S. Air Force Academy, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and the University of South Carolina.
"Converse doesn't offer electrical engineering courses, and I don't believe that the military instruction they have at Converse would be equal to The Citadel", Mellette said.
She cited her family's ties to The Citadel and said going there gave her the option instead of the obligation of military service after graduation.
Watts said that he felt Faulkner would have been accepted by the members of her company had she continued but said that Faulkner would have been lonely.
Mellette's father, Bland, is a 1963 Citadel graduate. Her brother is a senior and cadet corps officer of The Citadel.
Jayhawk Music Festival nets more than $40.000
Kansan staff report
Kappa Sigma fraternity raised more than $40,000 from the Jayhawk Music Festival held at Clinton Lake on Sunday. Aug. 27.
The proceeds raised will go to the Association to Benefit Children, an organization which helps treat children with terminally ill diseases, such as cancer and AIDS.
Hill said Kappa Sigma's original goal was to raise $50,000 for the association. However, because of the heat at the festival, fra
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ternity members were forced to buy extra supplies, such as water bottles, to keep the sold-out crowd of over 10,000 from suffering heat exhaustion.
"We would have reached the goal, but because of unexpected expenses, we didn't quite make the $50,000." Hill said.
Hill said he was proud of the effort and teamwork of his fraternity brothers in putting together the festival.
"We're all looking forward to next year," he said.
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