This is the first article in a series created by the Public Safety Advisory Committee (PSAC) to address public safety concerns on campus and to allow for greater productive exchange between students and safety officials about these issues. PSAC is a subcommittee of the WSA’s Community Outreach Committee (COCo), which meets regularly with the Public Safety Office (PSO) and periodically with the Middletown Police Department (MPD). The student members of PSAC asked the following questions to PSO and MPD to help clarify some of the misconceptions and misunderstandings between students and safety officials.
1. What is the expected response of the PSO/MPD in the event of a noise complaint?
The response of each department varies on the information received from the initial complaint, available officers to be sent, and if there had been previous complaints. Although complaints can be called into either or both departments, the MPD usually requests Public Safety’s assistance for complaints on Wesleyan’s campus.
2. When should students expect to be asked for identification from the MPD/PSO?
Public safety routinely asks student for identification for lockouts and other service related calls. MPD and PSO will also identify any individuals involved in incidents including witnesses, suspects, victims, etc. The PSO protocol is to inform persons asked for identification of the reason they are being asked. MPD and PSO are more than willing to explain our rationale as long as students are cooperative and respectful.
In many cases MPD and PSO respond to complaints that we discover are unfounded, but will still identify anyone involved to document what occurred. MPD and PSO encourage students to contact us if they believe that they have been asked for identification without probable cause or are not provided with an explanation at the time of the request. the MPD and the PSO take great pride in our work and we can only improve our services if students report incidents where they believe the MPD and/or the PSO has acted in a wrongful manner.
3. How dos the PSO and/or the MPD approach unregistered social gatherings with large crowds of students?
Once the responding units arrive on the scene our actions will depend on a variety of factors including, but not limited to, the amount of noise, the size and behavior of the crowd, dangers to individuals, blockage of roads, location, etc. The initial officers will attempt to locate the host responsible for the party and have them take measure to lower the noise. However, this is not always appropriate as the time of day, previous complaints, lack of responsiveness of the crowd or other factors may require the party to be dispersed. In the case of a large social event there are only a few officers dealing with a crowd that can number several hundred and it is important that students comply with officers’ instructions, which includes leaving the scene if the party is being dispersed. PSO and MPD have found that students the majority of students are extremely cooperative during large gatherings and we appreciate your efforts to help ensure everyone’s safety during these situations.
4. What are some of the most pressing concerns for the MPD/PSO on Wesleyan’s campus, especially in the coming weeks?
Public Safety and the Middletown Police see an increase each spring in the number of complaints received from loud parties and disruptive behavior by students on and around campus. There are also issues with non-university people attending social events, which have often resulted in an increase in the number of thefts and vandalism due to windows and doors being left unlocked or open. We remind you to take extra care in securing your residences and to take advantage of services such as The Ride shuttle. Wesleyan is a relatively safe campus and we aim to keep it as such, but this takes the efforts by everyone, students and safety officials.
Please email COCo Chair Nishita Roy (NRoy@wesleyan.edu) or Public Safety Director Dave Meyer (DMeyer@wesleyan.edu) if you have further questions or concerns we can address in our upcoming articles.
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