Parents of students at the University of California Berkeley have reportedly hired private security for their children, prompting consternation from school officials.
According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, the program SafeBears acted as unarmed security for the students for a 17-day period, though the ambassadors on foot and on bicycles did not coordinate with campus police.
SafeBears, which ended on Saturday, paid six guards a total of about $42,000 to patrol at night near student housing and south of campus in response to increases in some types of crimes, including property crimes, the Times reported.
SafeBears founder Sagar Jethani and other concerned parents hope their efforts will lead the school to start its own ambassador program.
“We’re rather hoping the school will eliminate the need for us to continue doing this by just putting its own program in place as they ought to have by now,” Jethani told the Times.
But in a statement to the Times, school officials indicated they’d prefer more police officers, not security ambassadors.
“Parents who want to donate funds toward additional campus security can do so via a university fund that has been established,” the statement said. “We do not believe that private security should take precedence over hiring sworn officers.”