This year Public Safety decided to rehire the Middletown Police Department (MPD) as a way of reinforcing safety on campus on weekends. According to Maryann Wiggin, Director of Public Safety, police patrols were first hired in September of 2003, in reaction to an overwhelming number of laptop thefts at the time.
At the end of last year in response to major safety concerns involving students being assaulted, campus thefts and loud noise complaints, Public Safety decided to continue its relationship with MPD, according to Wiggin. Usually one Middletown Police officer will patrol campus during prime party hours.
Captain David Gervais of the Middletown Police Department is in charge of the patrol division, which allocates police officers to Wesleyan on weekend nights.
“Our officers up there [at Wesleyan] report directly to Public Safety, who tells them where to go,” Gervais said.
According to Gervais, in addition to thefts their foremost concern is with non-University persons attempting to gain access to Wesleyan parties and assaulting students when they are denied access.
“Students’ parents were also calling a lot, and they were asking about what the police were doing for safety on campus,” he said.
Students express mixed reactions to the added presence of Middletown Police on campus.
“While I appreciate their aesthetic value, I question their effectiveness, as I have not heard of any students being shot at with pepper spray bullets,” said Alden Blair ’05.
According to Gervais, although the police do technically have the authority to use pepper spray, they will only use it in extreme circumstances. At a flash party on High Street and Lawn Avenue in the fall of 2003, the police had to resort to pepper spray to move several hundred students out of the street intersection.
“In a less extreme situation pepper spray would be inappropriate, and I would look into it if I heard of any officer using it,” Gervais said.
Sivan Cotel ’05 was appreciative of the approach Middletown Police used to break up a party he threw on September 4th on William St.
“They were very courteous,” he said. “They just got on a bullhorn and said ‘the party’s over,’ cleared people out and said thank you.”
According to Cotel, the Police did not confiscate his taps or kegs, which Public Safety does when they respond to parties.
“I would rather deal with the police than with Public Safety,” Cotel said. “When Public Safety responds to a party its double jeopardy, because in addition to an SJB referral, they’ll take your kegs and taps.”
Gervais also commented on using the MPD to break up a party.
“You try and do it the most diplomatic way you can when you break up a party,” Gervais said. “Ninety-nine percent of the time kids at Wesleyan are respectful, and they do what they’ve got to do.”
However, Gervais asserted that when the police receive a noise complaint from a party, they ask Public Safety to deal with the party first. Only if Public Safety is unable to handle the situation do they bring police patrols in.
“At off-campus locations sometimes when Public Safety shows up the students tell them to leave,” Wiggin said.
Most of the time Public Safety is able to deal with on-campus parties, but if students refuse to cooperate the police will be called, according to Wiggin.
Gervais said that the consequences for students are likely to be less drastic when the police respond to a party than when Public Safety responds.
“Honestly, we have bigger things to deal with than carding 50 kids at a party to see if they’re of age,” he said.
According to Wiggin, Public Safety’s relationship with the Middletown Police has been highly successful and productive, and the future role of police on campus will depend on the changing needs and circumstances of campus safety.
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