Police Association Begins Mission Statement Preparation

The Harvard University Police Association is beginning to work on the proposals it outlined in an advertisement in The Harvard Crimson on June 10, police department officials said yesterday.

Association officers said they have yet to present Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) Chief Francis D. "Bud" Riley with a mission statement and proposal for a labor management committee, as the ad said the association would do.

"We will be writing it soon," Mercier said. "It should be before the kids come back to school in September. We're trying to get it together. I really don't want to get into it now."

In the ad, the association criticized the reforms Riley has initiated during the past months, including the firing of seven lieutenants last May.

The ad--which was written by Association President George White and Vice President Thomas Mercier--also criticized the department's leadership style.

"Management's intentions have been invariably communicated through militaristic, strictly enforced written policies of the HUPD," the ad said. "The absence of an explanation also reflects an attitude."

But Riley still has the support of the HUPD administration in the negotiations and continues to have it, sources in HUPD said.

And Riley said he was confident that despite the controversy over the reorganization, HUPD will be able to continue to do its job.

"I don't feel as though there are any problems that can't be dealt with so that the safety and security of this campus won't be even further enhanced by this fall," Riley said.

"It's not worth talking about," Riley said of the negotiations.

Mercier said he and other members of the association supported some of the basic proposals Riley has implemented, such as community policing.

"We feel that community policing is the proper way to go," Mercier said. "It's a sound way of making contact with the community and a sound way to work with the community. We're trying to make sure that everything is in place before we go forward with it."

Mercier said that he thought that negotiations with Chief Riley would have a positive outcome. "I think that Chief Riley is usually open to any suggestions," he said. "I think that at least he would take a look at it."