Harvard Hires Three New Officers

Officer Scott A. Simas of the Harvard University Police Department has found things pretty quiet in his first week of work as one of the University's three new patrol officers.

Quiet in comparison, that is, to his former job as a paratrooper with the U.S. Army's 82d airborne division.

"I was in on the invasion of Grenada," said Simas, whose father is a University detective. "It was good training for being a Harvard officer. I learned discipline. I learned to do what you're told. I learned how to be a professional."

Simas, who has spent the last five years in the University parking office, is one of three new officers all drawn from other departments that work out of the police headquarters at 29 Garden St.

The 29-year-old Simas, former University security guard Brian T. Lakin and former dispatcher John C. Evans started work as full-fledged Harvard police officers last Tuesday. The three graduates of the state police academy in Burlington have spent their first week familiarizing themselves with the Harvard campus and learning from senior officers with whom they patrol each day.

"All those people who got hired did a very, very good job at the academy," said Robert Kotowski, the president of the police officers' union.

The three white men are the first new hires this year in a department that has had trouble in recruiting and keeping minorities, according to Kotowski.

Evans, 25, has worked as a dispatcher in the communications division of the police department since 1987.

"There's an excitement and an interest in the work," Evans said. "I've always wanted to do it ever since I was young."

In the past week, Evans, who had just returned from taking a larceny report, says he spent most of his time familiarizing himself with the Harvard area.

Lakin, who has worked as a Harvard security guard since November 1987, said yesterday that his fellow officers have helped him attain a better knowledge of how to patrol the area around the University.

"The department does an excellent job of making sure you know where you're going," Lakin said. "It's very important, especially in emergencies."

Lakin, 26, a Watertown resident, said his experience as a security guard has helped him even in his first week of work.

"Absolutely, it has played a big part in assisting me being familiar with the names of buildings," Lakin said. "It's helped me immensely."

Harvard is very concerned about "maintaining safety," Lakin said. "That's why I'm here. That's what I'm paid for," he said.