Police, students discuss concerns

In print | April 28, 2005

Responding to recent concerns expressed by students and administrators about the relationship between the college and the borough police, Student Council hosted a fireside chat on the role of local law enforcement Tuesday night.

Borough Police Chief Brian Craig and Sgt. Ray Stufflet said the department was focusing on increasing their patrols of the campus as a result of recent incidents, including several robberies and two sexual assaults in the past four years. “We’re trying to facilitate more of a presence,” Sgt. Ray Stufflet said. “If violations occur they’re going to be cited.” He argued that citations for underage alcohol consumption at Worth and other campus locations were justified.

Owen Redgrave, director of Public Safety, said he did not believe there was an increased police presence on campus this semester. Police were responding to disruptive actions by students, he argued. “If there’s more student behavior of that nature, there will be more police activity,” he said.

Nash Adamson ‘07, who was stopped and interrogated by police during a late-night walk, said he has seen a “significant increase” in police activity this year. The college administration, however, "has been very responsible in that they have heard the complaints of the students and they’ve brought those complaints to the mayor," he said.

“I think the administration is really stepping it up and letting them know that we’re willing to have a reasonable police presence,” Adamson said, but he felt students shouldn’t “fear that when we’re walking around we [will] get harassed or pushed around.”

Maurice Eldridge ’61, college vice president of college and community relations, said the borough mayor was committed to “a positive relationship” around policing issues. Moreover, he said Craig “understands this tension between us and them.”

“He’s honest when he says they’re not looking for trouble,” Eldridge said.

Indeed, Craig said the department “doesn’t go looking for trouble — it usually comes to us.”

Redgrave concurred. “Ultimately, we’re in the borough of Swarthmore and they’re responsible,” he said.

Unofficial procedures

“We listen to the college radio,” Craig said. “If we hear something we’re concerned about, we’ll ride up.”

Redgrave said unofficial agreements exist between Public Safety and the department about the procedures when police enter college buildings, but that fundamentally they are a “judgment call.”

“There was an agreement, non-written, that they wouldn’t go into residence halls unless the call is a life-threatening emergency,” Redgrave said. Semi-public buildings like Olde Club, the fraternity houses and Paces, on the other hand, exist in “this huge grey area.”

“I do worry about when they go in the dorms,” Eldridge said. “That shouldn’t happen without Public Safety around.”

In an incident in March, borough police arrested a sophomore for drug possession after receiving an anonymous call from a campus phone. Public Safety was not informed by the department and only learned of the presence of the officers when a student called to inform them.

Tense relations

When incidents involve the potential for arrest, Craig said, police officers feel the need to respond. “Public Safety have never exercised any enforcement authority,” he said.

Craig said the small size of the department necessitated the use of officers from nearby towns as well. “We have to rely on help,” he said. “That’s why you see officers from other jurisdictions.”

Eldridge said the use of police from outside the Swarthmore community “gets me nervous.”

“Police from other jurisdictions show up that don’t have the same commitment to a good relationship, or a knowledge of the procedures,” he said. “It could get out of hand.”

Eldridge said he was considering suggesting “sensitivity trainings” that would involve borough police, Public Safety and officers from nearby departments.

In 2001, students and members of the administration recommended sensitivity trainings to the borough police after charges of discrimination surfaced in officers’ handling of an investigation. Prince Achime ‘01 asserted, and a police investigation later confirmed, that a borough officer entered Achime’s off-campus residence without a warrant in the course of investigating an assault on another student. Achime, who is black, asserted that the approach was racially motivated.

“Unfortunately, the people [who] committed the crime were black, so the descriptions were black males who fit the particular criteria,” Craig said. “The way the police reacted to that was the way they would have reacted to any particular crime.”

Members of the Swarthmore Afro-American Student Association held a rally in which they requested an apology from the department, which they declined.

“My impression was that everyone was satisfied with the explanation,” Craig said. “There was no racial profiling involved … there was nothing to apologize for.”

Craig said the department had agreed to sensitivity training, and that they had contacted the college “on four separate occasions” but had not heard back from the administration.

Eldridge said the delay was “just a scheduling thing.” He did recommend that students be familiar with appropriate procedures for interacting with police. “Students should know what their rights are, but they shouldn’t become instant lawyers,” he said.

Adamson expressed concern that his questioning could be indicative of a general profiling of students, but Craig disputed this assessment.

“If you think the Swarthmore police department has a stereotypical view of the Swarthmore student, you’re wrong,” Craig said. “We’re not looking to target you.”

Craig argued, however, that police would not hesitate to cite students for underage drinking and other violations heard over the Public Safety dispatches. “If you get so comfortable that you feel like you can break any law, we’re not doing our job,” he said.