This campus draws thousands of students every year for many reasons. Undergraduates and parents are attracted to small class sizes, strong academics and low crime rates. Supposedly, Eastern is one of the safest campuses in Illinois, yet the city of Charleston and the university combined have two of the most incompetent police forces around.

Last August, a new addition to the faculty was nearly bludgeoned to death by a mob of six to eight men. Bill Feltt, an English instructor, was just taking a late-night stroll through campus when he was attacked.

He suffered serious injuries, couldn’t return to the classroom for weeks and still lives in fear because his assaulters have not been apprehended.

Feltt has every reason to be afraid, especially with the shoddy investigative work and overall apathy of the University Police Department in the five months since his assault.

The UPD claims to have no leads and places blame on Feltt’s head injuries for the force’s inability to catch any suspects. The department claims Feltt’s story is inconsistent, but perhaps the UPD should acknowledge its own inconsistencies.

For instance, the police did not release a sketch of one of the suspects until December, which was far too long after the attack.The man portrayed in the sketch looks like half of the male population of Eastern and, not surprisingly, the vague drawing provided no leads in the investigation.

Obviously, months after the fact, Feltt is going to have a hard time describing his attackers. The UPD should have completed a sketch right away, and the police never should have believed a crappy pencil sketch would find the cowards who battered Feltt.

But the UPD remains patient, assuring the campus and the community that no time table on this crime investigation exists. The police aren’t frustrated and seem completely content on waiting until someone talks.

What about Bill Feltt? Is he the only person involved in this investigation who is impatient and frustrated?

He’s still hurting from the attack, mentally and physically, and he’s still scared to walk around at night. When will justice be served for him?

Frankly, I’m not sure Feltt’s attackers will ever be found. I’d be more confident if Deputy Barney Fife were leading the investigation at this point.

Maybe if the cops around here were less concerned with issuing parking tickets, testing their worthless decibel meters and busting underage drinkers, they might actually prevent real crimes.

Earlier this year, the UPD and the Charleston police made about 12 unwanted visits to my house, citing noise disturbances and excessive displays of beer cans on the lawn. Sometimes, different officers would show up twice in the same night and many of the “charges” were completely unwarranted.

It got to the extent where my roommates and I felt harassed. At one point, I think I even asked the police if they had anything better to do than prey on a few people drinking on my porch.

It was around this same time, possibly even the same evening, that Feltt was attacked near the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

The innocent man who was assaulted that night will never be the same and neither will our safe little campus.

If the police spent more time protecting the peace, rather than disturbing the peaceful, they might spend less time embarrassing themselves when it’s time to solve actual crimes.