Task force chats with town police

Author: Rachel Greenhaus

Officers from the Middlebury Police Department (MPD) were invited to participate in last week's Social Life Student Task Force meeting. Patrol officers George Merkel and Kevin Emilio, along with Middlebury Police Chief Tom Hanley, were asked to partake in the ongoing discussion surrounding the Middlebury social scene and the best ways to deal with the increasing amount of student dissatisfaction with social life.

In involving the local authorities in this discussion, the Task Force hoped to attain a well-rounded view of the impact student social life has on the local community and how to improve the relationship between students and the MPD.

The students on the committee were given a chance to question Merkel, Emilio and Hanley in an informal setting. Sitting in a circle of couches in Forest Hall last Friday, the group discussed issues including the role of Public Safety on campus, the implementation of new civil ticketing laws for alcohol possession and what exactly is legal and illegal when it comes to student alcohol use. The main complaint voiced by students seemed to be that the police are the enemy and that students are targeted simply because they are students.

Sam Temes '07 explained to the officers that "a lot of kids feel like there's more animosity than there is, because a lot of the way kids see the police is in intimidating situations."

Hanley responded by citing the fact that in previous years, the MPD had appointed an officer as a campus liaison, always available to meet with students and organizations to answer questions and promote a more open relationship. That program, as well as the past tradition of sending an officer to talk with incoming first-years during orientation, has been abandoned in recent years due to understaffing at the police department and decreased interest from the College.

Hanley praised the Task Force for having "the right idea" in addressing problems and dispelling the myths and rumors that tend to arise in a naturally uneasy relationship such as the one between college students and police officers. In a move toward a greater campus-wide understanding of this relationship, the Task Force requested that the possibility of reinstating the police liaison and first-year orientation programs be looked into for the next school year.

The main function of the meeting between the Task Force and the MPD was to foster communication and create perspective. The students were surprised and a little relieved to hear Hanley say that while student drinking may be a major concern to students, it is "just the tip of the iceberg" for the MPD, which deals with over 7,000 calls a year in the greater Middlebury community. While alcohol citations remain high, in actuality the number of off-campus complaints that the police have received has dropped considerably in recent years, and the police don't seem concerned about current trends in campus social life. Merkel and Emilio emphasized that it is their job to enforce the law, which clearly states that the drinking age is 21 and that open containers are illegal. Additionally, they noted that these laws are unlikely to change in the near future, and that they "just like people to use common sense." The final emphasis was on the existence of the MPD as a resource.

Hanley said, "Our objective is to have you feel that this is your police department, too."