The Crime Problem: Do We All Like Hiding Under Harvard's Skirt?

WHEN RICHARD P. White '74 answered a knock on his Eliot House door at 11 p.m. on January 22 and told the three youths who appeared that he did not know anyone named "John Simmons," they produced a gun and forced their way into the room. After robbing him of $26 in cash and a face mask valued at $10, the assailants bound White's hands and feet, placed a pistol next to his head and fired a shot into the ceiling.

The incident was the second armed robbery and the third attempt in less than two weeks. On January 13 University Police arrested two armed men in Dunster House and on January 16 four thieves forced their way into a Mather House suite, stole $750 worth of merchandise and pistol-whipped the two occupants.

Since that time several more reported armed robberies and assaults have occurred in University residential areas. As of June 1, the University Police had received reports of at least 12. Total figures were not kept before this year, but this number of "violent crimes" represents a sizeable increase over previous years.

Although the incidence of petty thefts of personal and University property remains high, Stephen S. J. Hall, vice president for Administration, says that the steady upsurge in thefts over the last few years seems to have levelled off in the second half of this year to about $1200 to $1500 per week. Hall says that this is at least partially due to increased awareness and security precautions on the part of students, administrators and police, especially since the January rash of armed robberies.

Hall and University Police Chief Robert Tonis have worked with Masters and concerned students in instituting many new University-wide security measures. A few of these include: the installation of fish-eye peepholes in the doors of all undergraduate rooms; adding and replacing locks and lighting throughout the University; locking the entryways to several of the River Houses; an experimental electronic security door to Eliot House which can only be opened with a special coded magnetic card; an increased student watchman force; and a campaign to increase student and administration awareness and cooperation in reporting crimes and suspicious happenings.

STUDENTS are unimpressed with either Hall's security mechanisms or his student police force. They realize that the student watchmen are no substitute for trained patrolmen, and that in a time of real emergency the baby police force will be not only useless but inhibiting.

The new security measures only serve to heighten a growing sense of frustration with city life at Harvard. Students were always aware of Harvard's proximity to Cambridge's dirty streets and smelly air, but somehow crime and violence appeared only in newspapers.

So while the Harvard student may feel safer these days, that feeling is accompanied by a sense of isolation and restriction. No longer can a Mather House resident receive a surprise call from a friend; no longer can an Eliot House resident throw open house parties.

For some, being safe is just too much trouble. It is too much trouble to remember the bursar's card, and the card with the magnetic stripe on the back, and the key to the entry, and the key to the door. For some, it is better to be sorry than safe.

Part of the new security measures was the installation of peepholes which were first installed in Leverett House last year. However, several Masters who requested them earlier this year were told that there was not enough money to put peepholes in all rooms. Zeph Stewart, Master of Lowell House, was originally told that the peepholes, which cost the University between $7 and $10 apiece, could be installed only in women's rooms. But after the outbreak of armed robberies, the Administration decided that it had enough money to go ahead and install the peepholes in all of the rooms--and with the mass installation the costs were reduced.

Harvard has spent well over $150,000 this year just adding lighting to many areas considered "target" places for crime and in replacing or adding locks to many doors. All Mather House entry ways are now locked, as are all of the doors to the Yard dorms. Mather residents must use a key to operate the elevator in the high rise section. However, Masters and students have resisted any moves to lock entries in many of the other Houses. Hall says that he hopes that all of the Houses will eventually follow suit, but that it is not up to the Administration to force them to do so.

F. Skiddy von Stade '38, Master of Mather House and dean of Freshmen, says that the locking of Yard and Mather House entries has lowered crime in these areas. "We've only had one serious rip-off in Mather since we locked the entries, and that was the day before we installed locks on the elevators," von Stade said. He added that locking up of the Yard dorms and five of the eight gates to the Yard at night has substantially decreased the traffic from "off of the streets." Several times before the doors were locked non-student heroin users were discovered using Yard dorm bathrooms as "shooting galleries."

In March, the new electronic security door at the main entry to the Eliot House courtyard--which gives access to 12 of the 15 Eliot entry ways--was installed as part of a pilot project to determine whether electronic access systems were feasible. Although some students felt that the new door was a nuisance and discouraged visitors from other Houses, Master Alan E. Heimert '49, assistant Senior Tutor Lawrence B. Stevens '65--who has helped coordinate the project--and many Eliot residents greeted the new system as a necessary step.

Each Eliot resident was issued a magnetically coded card. When the card is placed in the reader located next to the door, the magnetic code is signaled to a computer memory unit in the chilled water plant north of the Yard. If the card's code matches one on record in the memory unit, the door is automatically unlocked. If a card is lost, its code can simply be erased from the memory unit and it will no longer open the door.

"It's my impression that we've had a real downturn in thefts as a result of the 'magic door,'" Stevens said, "but if everyone's not careful they're going to get ripped off anyway; propping the door open or allowing strangers to follow you in just negates the system."

Hall and Stevens both say that the pilot project has proven that electronic security systems can be successful, especially in Houses like Eliot and Lowell where central access is through a main courtyard entry.

Earlier this year Tonis's force of 75 uniformed and armed University Police was bolstered by the addition of a 15-man student security patrol, equipped with two-way radios. Hall said that the force was so successful in helping University Police spot crimes, small fires and other problems around Harvard that it was increased to 40 students. The students, who are paid a wage above $3 an hour to work shifts from 12 midnight to 8 a.m., are instructed to call the police on their radios if they spot any suspicious persons or anything that seems out of the ordinary. In May a member of the student security patrol saw someone carrying things from a dorm and contacted police. As a result a local youth was arrested and several hundred dollars' worth of stereo equipment was recovered.

WITH ALL of the money and brain power spent on tightening security in the University, most House Masters and students still agree that the best prevention must come from increased awareness and vigilance by the members of the University community. Stevens says that one of the biggest effects Eliot's new electronic security has had on crime prevention is that it constantly reminds residents that they should be "on the lookout" for crime. More and more students admit to feeling "jittery" about the thefts and assaults which have been taking place around them and as a result are far more willing to question strangers and take care to lock doors, cars and bikes. White's assailants were captured even before police knew that White had been robbed because Randy Nixon '74 had called the police earlier when the youths tried to force their way into his room, also looking for "John Simmons."

Hall and University Police Sergeant George Hill both believe that if students and employees of the University were to tighten their easy-going "it won't happen to me" attitudes toward crime, it could be drastically reduced.

"Administrators and other employees are as guilty--or even more guilty--of laxness as the students," Hall says. "The thefts in administrative buildings have grown faster than in residential areas."

Last January the University Police began for the first time to publish weekly tabulations of thefts, assaults and other reported crimes throughout the University. They now send the report to over a hundred departments, officials and organizations in an effort to inform them of crime in the community. Eventually, the police hope to chart crime rates for successive years and comparable weeks during the years.

Another problem which Hall and other University crime fighters bring up is the failure of many of those robbed and assaulted to press charges after police capture suspects. Since a large number of the suspects are teenagers, most people are reluctant to "get them into trouble." However, Hall says that many of these "youngsters" are not just good kids off on a one time fling. "We're dealing with some pretty hardened juvenile delinquents, a lot of them carrying knives and guns. They're not naive youngsters and we're not going to help them by letting them off easy."

Even in cases where adults are involved, many victims decide not to press charges. Earlier this year a woman was approached by a man about 40 years old on the Widener steps. She refused his offer for a "good time" and he struck her in the face. Three University Police were called to the scene and arrested the man. When the woman said that she wanted to press charges, the man broke away from the police and struck her in the face again. After a struggle in which all three of the policemen suffered at least minor bruises, the man was brought to the station. Again he began to struggle and when the police tried to subdue him, the woman decided that she didn't want to press charges.

ALTHOUGH THE electronic security system has been successful in Eliot House and may be made available to other Houses in the future, it might not be as efficient in Houses like Adams that have many different street entrances. Currier House is the only one of all the Houses that was built specifically with security in mind. The one entrance to the House is guarded by students or watchmen 24 hours a day.

Bicycle and automobile thefts continue to rise at phenomenal rates, although no exact figures can possibly be obtained. At least 56 cars were reported stolen last year and the number of bicycle thefts probably has hit a large chunk of the student body. Many students have had two and three bikes stolen from them, no matter what type of chain, lock or storage place they have used.

That the total theft has levelled at about $1200 to $1500 per week should not be a comforting thought to anyone, but at least the rapid increase which has characterized the last few years has subsided for now. Still, the number of armed robberies and assaults has risen at an alarming rate and should serve notice that the new steps towards tighter security this year may be augmented with even further ones. As Eliot's Master Heimert said last February: "There used to be a trade-off between security and the robberies. But when we start considering armed attacks and personal safety there is no longer any trade-off."

Many new plans are now being made or have been suggested to break the back of the crime wave and protect Harvard students and personnel from violent crimes. Some would cost the University money and others would require the cooperation and support of the people in the University.

THE PROGRAM which will have the most significance on the University budget is a $2.2 million automation plan which Harvard is undertaking. Alarms, electronic security doors similar to Eliot's, closed circuit television for security areas and other types of automated security will all be centralized by a network of computer cables running through the steam tunnels which connect University buildings.

Eventually, Hall says that he would like to see all entrances to residences guarded by coded-card security doors. When Harvard finds a company that can make magnetically coded bursar's cards so that students don't have to carry two cards, this system will be more feasible.

Naturally, any mention of automation in the electronics field immediately arouses suspicions about snooping and invasions of privacy. Already, local opposition to Harvard's installation of electronic cables in its steam tunnels has begun. People Against National Identity Cards (PANIC) led the opposition last month. The group convinced the City Council to ask Harvard to stop laying the cables at least temporarily so a hearing can be held.

The plans for the new freshman dorm, the Pusey Library and other planned construction for Harvard's future have been at least partially dictated by concern for increased security within the University. There is little doubt that all of the future planning for additions or renovations to the Harvard campus will be done with a heavy emphasis on security considerations.

Finally, the inevitable solution of increased manpower always comes up. Harvard will almost assuredly continue to increase the size of its police force in coming years and probably will continue to fund more student watchmen. Although Hall thinks that a larger police force could vastly reduce crime at Harvard, he is aware that such an increase, like automation, would bring howls of protest. Many students feel that increased numbers of police on campus would be a threat to their "enjoying" themselves and would lead to increased efforts to interfere with their private affairs.

"I'd like to have our policemen be like trees and only be there when the students need them," Hall says. "Hell, I don't care what the students do. If they want to smoke dope or something I just want them to be able to do it without some guy coming to their door with a gun."