I am curious, which part of protecting and serving does handing out tickets to those bicycling in the Mall fit into?

It puzzles me to see the entire University of Minnesota police force staking out the Mall, just waiting for an offender to ride their bike on the sidewalk.

As a student here at the University, it is very unsettling for me to hear about constant muggings, thefts and break-ins and then see that the main concern of our police force is to hand out petty moving violations to bikers on campus.

I feel it is difficult to maintain respect for our law enforcement when they continuously nickel and dime the student body they claim to be protecting.

Our police force should catch real criminals if they want to maintain the respect of the citizens. If there are not enough real criminals to catch, cut back on police budgets instead of cracking down on jaywalking or biking students.