On Saturday night the Middletown Police Department (MPD) and Public Safety (PSafe) were called to the Psi Upsilon (Psi U) house to break up a fight that occurred as a party ended. According to Director of Public Safety Dave Meyer, it is normal PSafe procure to call the MPD when any type of violence occurs on campus.
“There was a fight with a lot of people, so it’s not unusual to call Middletown Police for assistance,” he said. “When we have a large crowd of individuals and any kind of violence or failure to comply, the police are called in. At least one fight broke out, so we felt we needed Middletown Police assistance.”
Michelle Agresti ’14, who was at Psi U when the alleged fight occurred, said she thought it was unusual to see MPD bring a police dog into the house.
“I’ve been at the end of Psi U parties before, but I’ve never seen them bring in dogs,” she said.
Meyer said that the MPD often brings police dogs on the scene when there is a large crowd that needs to be dispersed, which he said was the case at Psi U on Saturday.
“[The dog] is a tool that’s used in the presence of and help with dispersion of crowds,” he said.
According to Meyer, no students were arrested, but the MPD will be called in similar situations like this in the future.
“When you get an assault you call the cops, that’s the trigger, and when people are involved in physical violence, we need backup,” he said.
Psi U Vice President Simon Edmonds-Langham ’14 acknowledged that assistance from PSafe and MPD was necessary to shut down the party at the scheduled time, but said that the use of dogs was unnecessary.
“The arrival of extra Public Safety officers was warranted, but the K9 unit was a terrifying and deeply troubling way to end what had been a great night,” Edmonds-Langham said. “This was an example of Public Safety escalating their crowd control efforts beyond what has ever been necessary for any Psi U event in recent history. Whatever the reasoning behind the decision, the situation raises a lot of interesting questions about campus security.”
4 Comments
BE SOFTER
I can believe someone would say they were terrified by the presence of the police dogs? In the bottle incident and the fire alarm at Beta this semester the police brought dogs as well. They are there to allow the police to more easily disperse large crowds of obnoxious drunk students. Their ultimately their for the safety of Wesleyan students and should not be feared.
'13
I think one reason people freak is that a lot of people associate police dogs with drug dogs and that shit’s just not cool.
Also, I don’t really understand how the police dogs help? Do they heard the drunk students like sheep or something?
Www Jhons638
fuck the middletown police department. half of the third shift picks up prostitutes, when the women dont comply to their needs theyre charged with prostitution. that sounds very noble an out standing.
'15
That fight was broken up very quickly, and the dogs came barely two minutes later. This article forgets to mention that this was a party thrown by Phi Beta Sigma, a men of color frat, which invited other local chapters. Many party attendees, including myself, felt that there was discrimination by the MPD.