Almost as soon as we arrive at Middlebury, we learn to be thankful that we report to Public Safety, not the police. We know punishments are different, but why, and how? The Campus talks to members of the Middlebury Police Department and the College’s Public Safety force to hash out the differences between the two different agents of law enforcement that Middlebury students might encounter.
In a town this small, officers of the Middlebury College Public Safety Department and the Middlebury Police Department are hard to miss. However, if you’ve never been involved in a criminal investigation on campus, the way they work together might be a bit of a question mark.
“It’s a fairly close working relationship,” said Sergeant Jason Covey of the Middlebury Police. “The College exists very much in its own entity … We don’t repeatedly patrol the campus; we have the rest of the town to patrol.”
Still, because Public Safety officers do not have the power to arrest students, they occasionally call upon the Middlebury police if the crime is more serious or if a student refuses to comply.
Covey was sure to emphasize the mutually beneficial nature of the relationship. When the police have reason to be on campus, Public Safety’s direct involvement with the college community proves invaluable.
“We exchange information routinely about issues that may affect the campus,” Covey said. “If we do have a criminal investigation that we’re conducting on campus, they would help track down people for us and provide information and assistance to us.”
Citing the forces’ independent yet integrated areas of jurisdiction, Covey finds the system to be quite effective.
“I would say the relationship works well because the College … is a self-contained society that’s able to handle most everything that happens there,” Covey said. “Very serious things do happen that of course require the police to come in and, if you will, take over, or assume responsibility for what’s happening, but those are few and far between. … We have different roles to play, but the two seem to mesh together quite well.”
Sergeant Chris Thompson of Public Safety also expressed satisfaction with the current system.
“I feel that the Middlebury Police Department and the Middlebury College Public Safety Department share a common goal, which is to keep the Middlebury community safe,” he wrote in an email. “There is mutual respect, and communication is strong between the two departments.”
According to Middlebury Chief of Police Tom Hanley, having a college within his area of jurisdiction does not make his job particularly different from one in another, comparable town.
“While the small college community may have a different dynamic than some of the other ‘micro communities’ we find interspersed within a community, it is still a part of the greater community,’ Hanley wrote in an email. “The big difference is that in the college community there is a ‘government’ of sorts and an organization that is missing in other neighborhoods and population centers.’”
Hanley added that this type of relationship is not exclusive to college towns.
“In larger communities that have gated neighborhoods with their own associations, fine systems and regulations, the police face the same dynamic,” he wrote. “Understanding that dynamic and working cooperatively with those organizations are the big differences between communities where they don’t exist and communities where they do.”
He also emphasized that the two communities are not mutually exclusive, referring specifically to staff and faculty members who are part of both. The close proximity of the College and surrounding town, an advantage in many ways, can sometimes lead to clashes; student activity sometimes leads to noise complaints from local residents, for example. In such cases, according to Covey, the students’ location is the deciding factor when it comes to jurisdiction: if the students are on campus, police will refer the complaint to Public Safety, and if not, they will address the problem, “start to finish,” as they would with any other town resident.
In other cases, the dividing line is not so clear. If a student is the victim of a crime, he or she can choose to report it to Public Safety, the Middlebury Police or both.
“When Public Safety responds, our staff informs students that the police can be contacted as well,” Associate Director of Public Safety Dan Gaiotti wrote in an e-mail. “Public Safety may also help students with reporting incidents to the Middlebury Police, when necessary.”
Depending on the situation, a variety of factors can go into this decision. With a college judicial system at their disposal, Covey said, many students may be more comfortable avoiding police involvement altogether, particularly if the perpetrator is another student.
“My assumption is that a lot of people don’t want to face the criminal justice system,” Covey said. “It is time-consuming. It’s adversarial. It can be very difficult on people. It’s very trying.”
On the other hand, the limitations of the College’s power can be persuasive.
“The College can impose sanctions,” Covey said, “but the criminal justice system has a very wide variety of sanctions that can be imposed.”
In sum, “it’s in the eye of the beholder what the advantages and disadvantages would be,” Covey said.
If the police are called upon for any reason, according to Covey, “the process for any crime is pretty much the same.” If an investigation leads to probable cause, the police charge the individual with the crime. At that point, the course of action can vary.
Take a student found in possession of drugs, for example.
“The average person — whether it be a Middlebury College student or whomever — who we encounter who’s in possession of a small amount of marijuana, if we find them with marijuana, most of the time, we will arrest them then and there,” Covey said.
The police will then bring the student to the police department to be fingerprinted, photographed and released with a citation to appear in court, usually about six weeks later. Only in extreme cases do the police choose to hold someone in jail until he or she appears in court.
While theft on campus — which “happens virtually every day” — is regularly reported, it is rare for the police to receive reports of serious crimes from students. According to Covey, serious crimes mount to “generally less than five to 10 things a year, on average.”
The police do not, however, receive reports regarding most infractions.
“For example, say they find an underage student in possession of alcohol,” Covey said. “We would not be notified of that unless there were some extenuating circumstances that they think they need assistance from the police … We have no knowledge, no information, no access to the College disciplinary procedure as a process.”
To become a police officer in Vermont requires 16 to 19 weeks of full-time basic training at a Basic Training Academy. Among other requirements, hopeful officers must first pass a written examination and undergo physical testing. Once admitted, according to the Vermont Criminal Justice Training Council, “The curriculum includes Criminal Law, Defensive Tactics, Conflict Management/Crisis Intervention Training, Community Policing, Investigative Procedures, Motor Vehicle Law, Patrol Procedures and much more.”
In contrast, “Middlebury College Public Safety officers receive most of their training in the form of on-the-job training here at the College,” Associate Dean of the College and Director of Public Safety Lisa Boudah wrote in an email. “The training covers department policies and procedures, the College handbook, specialized training topics such as hazing, hate crimes, diversity awareness, Training the Eye to See and training on local ordinances and pertinent state laws.”
The officers are also certified in first aid, CPR and AED in addition to attending a training course specifically geared toward college security officers.
Boudah, who was a police officer in Burlington before becoming a college security officer, believes this transition to be easier than the reverse might have been, given the respective job descriptions. In addition to leaving behind the various responsibilities exclusive to the police, including arrests and traffic stops, “All of our work is here on the campus and the majority of our contacts are with College community members … many of whom we know on a first name basis,” she wrote. “As a police officer, many contacts are with strangers or people whom we’d never see again.”
Thompson feels that the department’s relationship with the student body is strong.
“I believe that students feel like they can rely on Public Safety officers to help them resolve issues, and trust the Public Safety Department with reporting any issues on campus,” he wrote in an email.
While the forces work jointly to address issues that arise, Covey also addressed the advantage of living and working somewhere as safe as Middlebury.
“Middlebury College is a relatively safe place with few violent crimes — very few that are reported to us, at the least,” Covey said. “I assume there probably aren’t many to begin with.”
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KNOW YOUR JURISDICTION
Essentially, things that take place off-campus are under police jurisdiction, and if they are on campus, it is up to public safety to handle it unless:
1.
They are very serious crimes (e.g., assault).
2.
Public safety decides they need to bring in
reinforcement because students are not cooperating.
3.
A student victim wants to report it to the police.
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KNOW YOUR PUNISHMENT
Drug possession (various types)
Incident report submitted to Commons Dean. Large quantities indicating distribution: contact police.
Intoxication
Medical assistance (if necessary) and/or locate a sober friend.
Possession of alcohol
Alcohol citation issued if underage.
Open containers
Open container violation form issued.
Property damage / vandalism
Investigation, incident report submitted to Commons Dean, police may be contacted.
Driving drunk
Contact police / incident report submitted to Commons Dean.
Public urination
Incident report submitted to Commons Dean.
Noise complaints
Incident report submitted to Commons Dean.
Parking tickets
Fine administered.
The long arm(s) of the law: where jurisdiction of public safety ends and the police force begins
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