HUPD Assertions Unwarranted

In his editorial (April 22) on the Harvard police, Dan Aibel brings up some valid concerns about two of Harvard University Police Department's recent actions. His questioning of whether HUPD's role is truly to help Harvard students, however, is unwarranted and hurtful to the women and men who serve and protect the Harvard community.

The first incident in question is the bust of the Crimson Sports Grille, at which one Harvard officer was present. The fact that a member of HUPD was there, however, reinforces rather than calls into question HUPD's role as protector of Harvard students. It is telling that no Harvard students were arrested during the bust, which was targeted at the Grille itself, not at the students.

The details of police operations are frequently and understandably confidential, but if Cambridge police planned to raid the Grille, Harvard would have been negligent not to send an officer to look after its students. Rest assured, Cambridge police would not have made exceptions for Harvard students.

The second incident, the Currier House drug bust, is again not inconsistent with HUPD's traditional role. Mr. Aibel writes that "when it comes to drugs and alcohol...it is a given that students are going to experiment." This is true. It is also true that, as Mr. Aibel points out, HUPD virtually never arrests Harvard students for underage consumption of alcohol, and furthermore, rarely makes arrests for misdemeanor possession or use of other controlled substances.

Experimentation is one thing. Felony possession of four controlled substances with intent to distribute, within a drug-free zone, is another matter entirely. While HUPD is there to help Harvard students, it is also obliged to enforce the law, and ignoring a felony drug operation would go far beyond the "benign neglect" referred to by Mr. Aibel. There is a point at which the actions of individual students may threaten the security of the community, and at that point it is the responsibility of the police to act. The police have encountered safety problems with students under the unlawful influence of alcohol and other drugs, and although they typically do not punish these students, they are perfectly justified in trying to prevent such situations.

The officers of the Harvard University Police Department are, like any other officers, sworn to uphold the law. Whenever possible they give the benefit of the doubt to Harvard students, and rarely do they make arrests unless safety or property is threatened. They are concerned primarily with our welfare, and their recent actions betray no other motive. --Marco B. Simons '97 Director, Safety Walk Member, Harvard College Security Committee Chair, HRUC Student Affairs Committee