TELL US: What Did You Think of Tuesday's Forum on Police Services?

Nearly two dozen students gathered Tuesday at the UConn Student Union Theatre as University of Connecticut Police Chief Barbara O’Connor and Mansfield Resident State Trooper Sgt. Richard Cournoyer led a forum on police services and campus safety.

Students engaged in conversation with public officials on topics ranging from the decriminalization of marijuana to UConn Spring Weekend to the latest hot topic - Carriage House Apartments.

Following last night's conversation, students who spoke with Mansfield-Storrs Patch said overall, they were pleased with the event.

Let Patch save you time. Get great local stories like this delivered right to your inbox or smartphone every day with our free newsletter. Simple, fast sign-up here.

“I think any time that we can really engage students in conversation is very beneficial for the entire population we have in Storrs,” Syed Naqvi, a UConn senior and chief of staff of Undergraduate Student Government (USG) said following the forum.

Jigish Patel, a UConn senior, and vice president of USG, said talks between students and public safety officials were encouraging.

“This will increase the communication between students who are on campus and police,” Patel said. “This kind of sets the dialogue," he said, adding, "This isn’t the ending point; this is the starting point."

UConn Sophomore Ben Ouellette said he too hoped the positive conversations could continue.

“I think that it’s great that the police want to come out and interact with us,” Ouellette said. "If we can continue to build on this, we can have more students participate and go from there,” he said.

Couldn't make Tuesday's forum? Mansfield-Storrs Patch wants to know what you think about police services as it concerns the campus community. How do you view your relationship with the town's public safety officials? What do you think about the police presence at Carriage House? Is it needed? Has it helped? Is UConn ready for a revised version of Spring Weekend? 

Please share your thoughts with your friends and neighbors in the comments section below. And be sure to check back with Mansfield-Storrs Patch for more on last night's meeting.