Pounding the Beat With Harvard's Finest

They have no motto to match the dignity of "New York's finest," or the Los Angeles police's promise "to protect and to serve." But since the 1940s, the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) has sought to combine the duties of law-enforcement with the protection of a college community's interests.

The two aims can sometimes seem incompatible--such as when University policies of confidentiality clash with the public access usually granted to law-enforcement actions, or when Harvard's in loco parentis role comes into conflict with common police practices.

And it is confusion between the two that most often prompts criticism of the force. Whether blamed for not protecting students in confrontations with Cambridge police, or condemned for forcing homeless persons off warm ventilation grates, the police play a role most students greet with ambivalence--or worse.

'This Isn't a Monastery'

At Harvard, a fine line sets the campus police force apart from a department serving an ordinary town. Larger than many municipal police departments in the state, University police must respond to break-ins, robberies and domestic disputes. But officers also function as monitors of student behavior.

At a recent undergraduate party, for example, police responded to a neighbor's complaint only to find a reasonably quiet gathering. "Tell [the caller] this isn't a monastery," an officer said. Another officer added later that he "hates" breaking up parties.

And Officer Robert Kotowski says that he feels his responsibility extends beyond protecting Harvard students and property.

"I'm a sworn officer of the Commonwealth," Kotowski says. As with all officers in the state, Kotowski says, he is bound by oath to investigate any crime he comes across, whether it is on Harvard territory or not.

Harshest Critics

Still, some of the most intense criticism leveled at the department has come from students on issues ranging from campus security to racism to homelessness.

But officers say that undergraduates assign Harvard police a reputation based mostly on anecdotes and word-of-mouth accounts. A random arrest, breaking up a party, driving a sick roommate to University Health Services or taking a report of a stolen bicycle amount only to a spotty description of the actual role police play, they say.

In fact, officers say interacting with students occupies a small portion of their duties. As the sworn police force for Cambridge's largest landlord--with jurisdiction ranging from the Radcliffe Quad to the Medical School's Boston campus--the Harvard force is expected to maintain the peace on all University property.

Response to criticism of the department varies greatly, individual officers say. One officer, for example, admits that one unpopular policy of the department--clearing homeless persons from ventilation grates at Holyoke Center and across campus--would not be preferred by all officers if they had a choice.

"The businesses are the ones who are always calling us to move [the homeless] out," said the officer, who did not give his name. "What are they doing to help?" he asked.

For a glimpse of the view from behind the badge, The Crimson accompanied officers on a recent Saturday night. At times mundane, at times threatening, the duty of Harvard's police officers defies easy categorization.

8:16 p.m.--A security guard in the Yard reports objects being thrown from a window at Canaday Hall. Police respond, hearing that a person was nearly struck by one of the items. The culprit cannot be found. A student tells The Crimson that the objects were books belonging to an exam-weary Yardling.

8:48 p.m.--Harvard police confront a drunk person on Holyoke St. The man moves along.

9:16 p.m.--An urgent all-points bulletin is broadcast over the police radio frequency. Two men in Brookline, one wielding a meat cleaver, have robbed a man and fled on bicycles. The pair then stashed the bikes in a black sports car and drove away. Harvard police hear the report over their police scanners, but since there are no reports that the two are headed to Cambridge, the police know they are unlikely to encounter them.

9:23 p.m.--Cambridge police respond quickly to a head-on automobile accident near Harvard Square at Garden St. Victims at the site show bumps and bruises, but all refuse medical treatment. Police question one driver, who appeared to have crossed the center line into the on-coming lane.

An officer asks the man to perform field sobriety tests. The officer drops a pen and asks the man to pick it up. He also asks the man to say the alphabet backwards. The officer decides to call the police wagon and, when it arrives, the driver involved with the accident is handcuffed, put in the back and transported to the Cambridge police station in Central Square.

Traffic, blocked for about 10 minutes, flows again after a tow truck pulls away one of the damaged cars and the fire department washes down the scene.

9:48 p.m.--Harvard police receive a report of a person harassing passers-by near the Jefferson Laboratories. A police motorcycle and squad car respond, but cannot locate the suspect.

10:02 p.m.--Cambridge police respond to the Brattle Square area after a merchant complains about a juggler in front of his store. Police arrive and the juggler ends his show.

Veteran street performer Mark Farneth refrains from criticizing the police. Instead, he pins blame on a fellow juggler. "A while ago, he fell off his unicycle and broke a window," Farneth says. He says the failure to clear up the matter quickly with the storeowner led to a crackdown on all street entertainment.

Although permits require street performers to shut down after 10 p.m., police typically allow jugglers, musicians and the like to stay as long as the crowds do. Tonight, the call about the juggler forces police to evict all the entertainers.

10:09 p.m.--Harvard police patrolling Harvard Square find four drunk, apparently homeless people on the Holyoke Center grates. After a computer check, officers learn one of the men faces an arrest warrant in Barnstable, Mass. The 41-year-old is handcuffed and taken to a waiting cruiser.

10:42 p.m.--Police claim they are "blinded" by a flash from a Crimson photographer's camera as they make an arrest. Officers seize bursar's cards from the photographer, as well as a reporter. The officers, one of whom is wearing sunglasses, say that their safety is jeopardized when they cannot see properly. One officer suggests that the arrest should not be of interest to Harvard students. Another says that 40 to 50 percent of the homeless are armed.

The four men being questioned, seated against a concrete wall, repeatedly ask that their photographs be taken.

11:02 p.m.--A Loeb Drama Center employee reports a stolen video camera and says the suspect is fleeing down Mt. Auburn St. Police broadcast a description, but cannot locate the suspect.

11:36 p.m.--Harvard police receive a call that a "Couple of hundred youths" are loitering in front of Grays Hall. The crowd appears to have spilled out of party at a nearby dorm. Police move through the crowd urging people to "move along."

12:05 a.m.--Roll call for the graveyard shift, on duty until 8 a.m., is convened in the basement of the Harvard police station at 29 Garden St. Officers who worked the afternoon prepare to head home. Three patrolmen arriving on-duty hear a rundown of the day's and night's incidents. A special weekend "power" shift helps to cover the territory during the switchover.

A message posted in the roll call room reads: "Summer uniforms as of Sunday 28 May 1989"--even now, after midnight, balmy weather makes the winter uniforms a difficult burden to bear. A lieutenant, as the graveyard-shift officers get ready to roll, gives the warning, "Let's be careful out there!"

12:56 a.m.--A freshperson in Hollis Hall is injured after putting his arm through a window. A Harvard cruiser responds and transports him to UHS.

12:58 a.m.--The Harvard police car patrolling the Business School reports a water hazard caused by a broken underground pipe. A puddle several feet deep has formed and the officer estimates the water is flowing out at a rate of about 25 gallons a minute.

1:12 a.m.--The leak unexplainedly stops. It appears that the pipe is connected to a sprinkler system run by a timer. An engineer will respond to correct the problem.

1:37 a.m.--Several pieces of abandoned wicker furniture are reported outside Pier 1 I Imports on Eliot St. Cambridge police find several hundred dollars-worth of furniture outside the store. An officer speculates the objects are sale items put outside during the day and forgotten. The manager is responding to lock up the "sidewalk sale" merchandise, the officer says.

2:04 a.m.--A woman calls HUPD to report that her car is locked in the Broadway garage. Police respond, unlock the gate and escort the woman to her car. She is a member of the Newton Choral Society participating in a recital on campus. She had met a friend afterwards, who had kept her past the garage's 11:45 p.m. closing time, she says.

2:55 a.m.--Harvard police receive a report that people are sleeping outside of Canaday Hall. "They do that every year," a veteran officer tells those responding to the call. The situation is checked out and the six students are left undisturbed on the Canaday lawn.