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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 16, 1987)
I'WEATHER: Friday, windy with ■ •'f ■ IrtcinD' a chance of scattered showers I I^l I I ■ Ksssss TV T _1_ 1 |FNr“r'. |unnv and pleasant High in the I %IO if f^Cl C |C *\ if I EnSainmen. !!!.'! !!!!! P?9l l —===s—maimslsmtmmm A B | Classified ,.:..Page 10 October 16, 1987___University of Nebraska-Lincoln_ Vol. 87 No. 37 Police investigated after complaints By CJnr^tfftk Allerheiligen Staffft*wk,f u An investigation into complaints from members of the UNL Police Department, including an accidental firing of a weapon, has led to recom mendations in policy changes for the department. The Nebraska Office of the Public Counsel/Ombudsman submitted the investigation report and recommen dations to John Goebel, vice chancel lor of business and finance, earlier this semester. Ombudsman Marshall Lux said he was pleased with the response he re ceived from Goebel and said commu nication would continue. Assistant Ombudsman Terry Ford said university officials will take ac tion but it will not be drastic. According to an investigation by the UNL Police Department that was submitted to the ombudsman’s office, UNL police officer Gary Hoffman accidentally fired into the ceiling of the UNL police department’s dispatch room on July 17. Hoffman told the investigating officer that he checked his weapon to see if it needed cleaning and found it loaded. He then closed the cylinder and raised the weapon straight up at about ear level. He told the investigator he be lieved his finger was on the trigger and he may have clenched his fist while putting the weapon into his holster. When asked by the investigator if he had ever seen anyone in the depart ment handle a weapon carelessly, Hoffman said, “No comment.” Ac cording to the report, Hoffman said he See related story on page 3 had obviously mishandled his gun or there wouldn’t have been a hole in the ceiling of the dispatch room. According to the ombudsman’s report, the department didn’t begin a thorough investigation of the matter until about five days after the acci dent. The ombudsman’s office recom mended that the existing policy on weapons discharge be consistently implemented by department adminis trators whenever a firearm is dis charged, whether or not an injury results. This included requirements for a prompt investigation and a re view board to examine the circum stances surrounding a discharge. The main concern is established administrative procedure, which should have been used in this case, the report said. Ombudsman office offi cials said it appeared that the proce dure either was not followed or was implemented late — after the interest of the ombudsman’s office was made known to UNL Police Chief Gail Gade. Goebel was out of town Thursday and unavailable for comment on the report However, in a reply to the ombudsman’s office in early October, Goebel said, “As the report indicates, there is always room for fine-tuning a public department and the ideas and recommendation presented in your report will help us with these needed adjustments.” The accidental discharge of the weapon needs to be examined from a university perspective, he wrote. Dif ferent intents and situations in which a weapon is fired warrant different levels of concern and action, Goebel said. He said the university intends to research this area. Gade would not comment on the report Thursday, but said information would be released from Goebel’s of fice next week. The investigation of the UNL Po lice Department began after a June 11 meeting of several members of the UNL Police Department and repre sentatives of the ombudsman’s office. The report, subm itted by Lux, Ford and ombudsman intern Jeff Canon, said the concerned officers thought that because the department was ap parently restructured about every nine months, some ordinary grievances expanded to critical proportions. The report said the officers con cluded that any police department that must restructure so frequently must be disorganized and lackadaisical. The officers reported an alleged misuse of a state vehicle by a junior officer assigned to train at the Ne braska Law Enforcement Training Center in Grand Island. The officer allegedly used a state vehicle to par ticipate in a pool tournament. UNL police Lt. Ken Cauble knew about the incident but did not discipline the officer suitably, the officers said. After investigation of the incident and similar alleged misuses of state vehicles, the report recommends that persons who are allowed to use uni versity vehicles for extended out-of town assignments be instructed on the policy guidelines. The ombudsman’s office also re ceived complaints about possible deficiencies in Cauble’s training re quirements for certification, stem ming from his transfer from the Lin coln Police Department to the UNL Police Department. The Nebraska Comm ission on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice ruled at its August meeting that Cauble will be required to take a test if he is to be recognized as a certified law enforcement officer. Members of the UNL Police De partment reported falsification of sta tistics kept for foot patrol duties and a lack of foot patrol in areas of campus more prone to crime. After investigating this complaint, ombudsman’s investigators found responses that differed from the re ports they received. Gade and Cauble said records on foot patrol were not kept. Gade told investigators these records could only be retrieved from shift supervisors. The report said that to have an effective foot patrol, the department must monitor the actual time officers spend on foot. Such data could easily be tabulated from existing records, the report said. In a letter to the ombudsman, Goebel said the recommendations for foot patrol were sound in concept. But, he added, the goal for the amount of time spent by officers on foot patrol See POLICEon6 Lincoln UFO-busters watch Nebraska sky r# n i lit# 1 ■ rSTp^ By James M. Lillis Senior Reporter When unidentified flying ob jects are sighted in Nebraska, you can bet the Fortean Research Cen ter of Lincoln will look into it Scott Colbom, associate direc tor of the research team, said if people think they have seen a UFO in the Midwest, chances are they’re not alone. “There have been documented UFO sightings in Nebraska since the cowboy days,” Colbom said. The center, founded in Febuary 1986, takes its name from Charles Fort, an early 20th-century writer who spent years collecting and publishing information about all sorts of unexplained phenomena found all over the world. “We’re one of a couple of re search groups to take its name from Fort," Colbom said. The Fortean research team in cludes Colbom, whose major inter est is UFOs; Dale Bacon, who re searches ghosts and other appari tion sightings; and Ray Boeche, director of the group, whose inter ests include the above areas and “bipedal humanoid” (Bigfoot) sightings. According to the Fortean Re search Center Journal, the group also investigates all aspects of “crypto/oological mysteries, out of- place animal sightings, geologi cal and archeological anomalies, psychic phenomena, and all other areas of study which may provide data useful to the resolution of these perplexing mysteries.” Documents of unexplained phenomena can be found tn local police and sheriff reports, state and county historical societies, and newspaper clippings, Colbom said. Colbom, who has seen a UFO, said southeast Nebraska, in par ticular, has had many UFO sight ings. Some of these sightings have been published by the Fortean Journal, but the names of those involved have been changed. There is a good reason for this, Colbom said. “When the (University of Ne braska-Lincoln’s) Raymond Hall ghost was sighted, the papers pub lished (a) name of the man who saw it, and soon he got so many calls about the sighting that he now re fuses to speak to anyone about it,” Colborn said. A typical UFO experience pub lished by the research team in the Fortean Research Journal may re late sightings, communication with the UFOs and even abduc tions. “Abduction cases are rapidly becoming standard fare in UFOI ogy,” Colbom said. “The abduc tion of an individual or individuals and the subsequent ‘medical ex amination’ which have been re lated on countless limes arc famil iar to most researchers. However, we may have a new twist to add to the story.” In 1984, a Lincoln woman called “Joan” talked to Bocchc and Colbom about a recurring dream she had had since childhood. In this dream, an entity appears outside her bedroom window and attempts to coax her to come with him. On April 11, 1984, Joan was hypnotically regressed to when the Brian Barbar/Daliy Nebraskan dream first occurred. The team discovered the date was Oct. 7, 1955, when Joan was 12 years old. Bocchc and Colborn observed as she told about her dream. “This entity conducts Joan to a ‘craft’ which is resting on the ground in a large vacant lot next to her home. After entering, she is given the well-known medical exam described by others (sam pling of skin tissue, blood, hair, etc.) and is returned to her home,’’ Boeche wrote. The unusual part was that she said she was able to understand what the leader was telling his subordinates. The new dimension enters here. “According to Joan’s testimony under hypnosis, the subordinates were quite worried about being caught, that they shouldn’t take chances and endanger them selves,” Bocchc wrote. Boechc said Joan spoke with the leader before he took her back to her home. Colbom said he saw a UFO in Lincoln in August 1974. “My father and I were sitting on the patio of his house,” Colbom said. “We saw a round silvery sphere about 500 feet off the ground. That's when I first got seriously interested in UFOs.” Readers who want to read more about UFOs and other unexplained phenomena can pick up copies of the Fortean Research Center Jour nal at The Way Home Records & Books,4203 S. 48th St. People who want to give tips on UFOs or sub scribe to the Fortean Journal can contact the Fortean Research Cen ter. Class clarifies nuclear ideas By Amy Edwards Senior Reporter University of Nebraska-Lincoln students can learn the causes and realities of nuclear threat in a new sociology course next semester. Robert Benford, assistant profes sor of sociology, said The Sociology of Nuclear Threat will discuss nu clear issues from a variety of perspec tives. While it may seem early to be thinking about courses next semester, UNL’s class schedule for next semes ter is already available, and students can hand in their schedules beginning Monday. Benford, who designed a similar course on nuclear issues at the Uni versity of Texas-Arlington, said there are several reasons he thinks the course should be taught. “Sociologists, with few excep tions, have tended to disregard what is perhaps the most perplexing and larg est social problem of our era,” Ben ford said. The course will offer much infor mation. Benford said students need to be well-informed of all aspects of the nuclear debate before they can make their own decisions. Information is often filtered through the media, he said. The course is designed to show the effects of a nuclear society through histori cal, political and anthropological viewpoints, as well as a sociological one. To help show these perspectives, Benford wants to bring in speakers from the military and peace move ment groups to stimulate discussion in the classroom. Because the new class has not been approved as a permanent course, it will be a Special Topics course with no prerequisites. Benford said he hopes to get a cross-section of people in the course with a variety of ap proaches toward nuclear society.