Editorial

Author: [no author name found]

College-Police relations: a two-way street

The relationship between College students and the Middlebury Police Department (MPD) seems to have gone drastically downhill this year. The College-MPD relationship is an important one, and all efforts should be made to maintain it.

The run-ins mainly stem from a perceived increase in police presence on campus, and it is often hard to distinguish between fact and rumor in the numerous stories that are passed around dining halls about encounters with police on the way home from the bar. Students often report feeling intimidated by the MPD.

Upon looking into the trend, it seems that the relationship could be greatly improved simply with enhanced communication. The MPD should be more forthcoming about dispersing information about its policies and students must make the effort to voice complaints to MPD supervisors when they have them and, most importantly, be informed about their rights, the Breathalyzer test and the specifics of Vermont law.

Middlebury Police Chief Tom Hanley has taken a step in the right direction by drafting a letter to next year's incoming class, less than 5 percent of which are native Vermonters, outlining the laws regarding alcohol in Vermont.

The tradition of having an officer serve as a liaison between the MPD and the College, which was lamentably discontinued a few years back due to staffing issues, would also help.

Communication alone will not solve all the problems of police-student relationships, however.

It is absurd that Middlebury, a college town, no longer has a temporary holding area where students apprehended for underage drinking can be sent. The requirement of having two officers to accompany the apprehended student first to Parton Health Center for clearance that he or she will not become ill during the trip, and then on the 30-minute drive to Rutland, is an outrageous waste of time and resources.

Police officers are also exercising the wrong methods by approaching students who are walking back from the bar and questioning and/or breathalizing them. Nabbing drunk drivers, both College students and other town residents, should be a primary concern for the police, not hassling potentially underage students headed to or from a party on foot. If students think they may be harassed while walking home, they are more likely to jump in a car with someone who may have been drinking.

Finally, underage students who frequent town bars with fake IDs must accept that it is the duty of the MPD to seek them out. Waiting until their 21st birthday to go to Mr. Up's and Angela's would enhance Middlebury students' reputations as respectful, law-abiding citizens, and would go a long way toward alleviating the current tension that exists between the College and MPD.