The Sept. 21 edition of the Tribune reported robberies were on the rise during the last 100 hours, yet I was disturbed that the very next article in the Tribune was about the Milwaukee Police Department beefing up jaywalking enforcement. I wonder if the Marquette campus would be safer if our resources were concentrated in more desolate parts of the campus instead of ticketing essentially harmless jaywalkers at North 12th Street and West Wisconsin Avenue.

According to the article "'Pay' walking" by Amy Bauer, two officers were present when Alicia Stone-Zipse was cited for jaywalking. If jaywalking enforcement is all that necessary, I think that one officer would be sufficient instead of two.

I understand why students jaywalk and I have indulged a few times myself. I always feel like a sap every time I do wait two minutes for the light to change, despite the fact that no vehicular traffic is in sight.

Personally, I do not trust traffic signals with my life. Many times, even if the traffic light does say "walk," I have found it to be unsafe to cross the street. All too often, there are cars speeding up to squeeze through the light or there are cars that cannot slow down quick enough to stop before the crosswalk. I have seen far too many incidences of cars turning right on a red light without looking for pedestrians in the crosswalk before turning.

My experience has taught me to never trust a machine or computer if I do not have to. We are intelligent humans that can think independently, which is the quality that separates us from machines. I will continue to use my own judgment when I cross the street instead of strictly obeying the traffic signals. It just makes sense.

Kaminecki is a sophomore mechanical engineering major.

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