Experienced Subtlety

A squadron of towering dark uniforms stood out above the commotion in the Yard one night last week, blocking gates, and moving swiftly about achieving order.

Such quiet restoration of the peace is typical of the University Police forces it almost always manages to quell annual springtime outbursts, or full-fledged football riots without wielding a club or swinging a fist. Instead, Lt. Matthew J. Toohy's 33-man force employs the subtler methods learned from many years of experience with College students.

When, for example, trouble developed last year between local youths and the freshmen who allegedly poured water down on them, the Yard cops took one bursar's card, mollifying the youths, pacifying the students. The bursar's card was later returned, and more serious trouble was thus averted.

Such a technique is typical of the "Yard cops" attitude. Although the members of the force pride themselves on their individual ways of "handling the boys," their uniform concern is keeping order, and not inflicting punishment.

Much of the forces' work is of quieter nature. Simply patrolling the Harvard area--from the business school parking lot, to the law and graduate schools (upper right, lower left and right)--for 24 hours each day takes much of the manpower. The police do not cover Radcliffe, patrolled by separate night watchmen, except for occasional incidents, such as that last Yale weekend, when students conducted an impromptu parade to the Annex.

On the beat, they are attired in special blue uniforms which distinguish them from the Cambridge police. Until nine years ago, they were all plainclothesmen, but it was found that merely wearing uniforms deters disturbances. The only time plainclothesmen are used now is during big weekends when trouble is anticipated.

Even on the beat, the police's primary concern is precautionary and not punitive. Patrolmen attend meetings and dances (center left) seeking to prevent trouble, and lock windows and doors in rooms to prevent thefts. "We worry about this even more than the students," said one officer.

There is always an officer--either on foot or in the force's familiar blue station wagon-ready to respond to the flashing red emergency lights scattered around the University. The blinking might signify that a locked-out student needs to get into his rooms, or that there is a fire in Adams House. But since serious disturbances are unusual, the duties of the Yard cops in addition to patrol, are limited to traffic matters (center, right).

Parking violations comprise the bulk of these, but once again, the police are not concerned primarily with discipline. Aside from an occasional fine for a three-time violater, serious action is left to the University administration.

Precaution often extends to actual assistance. It is not unusual for an officer to help an intoxicated student to his room, to intercede with other law enforcement agencies, or to answer such questions as that asked by a freshman last fall, "What time do we have to be in our rooms? 9:30?"