UMass Police

(image courtesy of Google)
Students exiting and entering the busy Berkshire Dining Commons can’t help but wonder if they are doing something wrong as they quietly shuffle by a police officer on a 7-foot, 2,000-pound horse.

When students returned back to the campus of the University of Massachusetts Amherst this fall, they noticed more police officers being visible than ever before. Many students feel that this increase in police visibility has been unnecessary and has been interfering with their weekend festivities, but the UMass Police Department disagrees and says that they are simply reaching out to make the campus safer. They no longer want the university to be attached to it’s party school nickname of “Zoomass” and so far their efforts have been successful.

Students such as Jeremy Butler, a sophomore at the university feels that the police are trying to intimidate the students and instill fear. When walking in and out of the Berkshire Dining Commons, he says, “I start thinking, what are they looking for? I feel like they are always searching for mischief.”

Butler sees police officers up on their horses to be condescending to the students, as if the police officers are looking down on them.

However on the contrary to how students such as Butler may be feeling, the UMass police are trying to do the exact opposite.

The UMass Police Department’s main goal this year is to make their staff much more visible and approachable to students. This year, the UMass police decided that it would be better for the officers to get out of their cars and be more engaged with the students.

Of the 62 sworn UMass police officers, there is always someone out in the field. There are police officers that can be seen walking through the campus center and biking on the streets, at hours when most students are too stressed with class work to even think about disturbing the peace.

Chief of police since 2009, John C. Whitehead says, “It’s amazing how approachable a police officer with a horse is.”

Butler’s response to the mounted units is, “A cop’s a cop. A mode of transportation isn’t going to sway my opinion of them.”

Other students such as sophomore James Matthews notices the police to be much more visible on the weekend scene. They are breaking up parties and enforcing the laws of underage drinking and noise infractions. Matthews says, “I don’t think that I have been to one party this year that hasn’t been broken up.”

However, the number of 62 sworn officers has not increased over the past few years. Some positions have even been terminated due to budget cuts, according to Whitehead.

Deputy Chief of Police Patrick T. Archbald, who has been with the UMass police department for 25 years, discusses how the cost to construct the new police station is very small in comparison to other facilities on campus such as the $50 million Recreation Center.

The new police station located at 585 East Pleasant Street is a $12 million facility that was funded by the building authority, having no affect on student’s cost to come to UMass Amherst.

He says, “Nobody’s budget it where they want it to be, but we have a healthy budget. The cost of this building is very small in the whole spectrum of the University.”

The amount of arrests per year has not gone up, it has been roughly the same, averaging out to be about 1,000 arrests per year. Out of those around 400 people that are arrested are not even put in handcuffs; they were simply summonsed to court, according to Archbald.

Not all UMass residents are opposed to the actions of UMass police officers. Sophomore Kevin Kimiadi in fact agrees with what the police are trying to do.

He says, “I wouldn’t say that I’m intimidated, I would say that I am more aware of what I could get myself into.”

The officers are trying to reach out to students and stress that they are not trying to trick anyone. There are several discussions held often around campus, sometimes even in the residential halls discussing police and student interactions.

Officers can be seen handing out pamphlets to students participating in the football tailgates which advise them on how to follow the law and not get themselves in trouble, and they also try to inform students with emails before there is a cause for celebration such as a highly anticipated sporting event.

Whitehead says “We do a lot of enforcement and a lot of education to tell you right upfront how things work.” Educational talks such as the “Know Your Rights” discussion fully explain what to do when someone is approached by a police officer and what their options are when they are approached.

The police department also runs educational programs such as their “Safe Celebration” program, which lets students know what is acceptable behavior at tailgates and other campus celebrations.

Officers can be seen handing out pamphlets to students participating in the football tailgates which advise them on how to follow the law and not get themselves in trouble, and they also try to inform students with emails before there is a cause for celebration such as a highly anticipated sporting event.

Police have also been utilizing Facebook and Twitter to reach out to students and protesters to let them know how they should do it but still keep it legal.

All of these programs have been put into effect in order to protect the university’s credibility, and to get rid of it’s reputation as a major party school, according to Whitehead. In fact, UMass was ranked number nine on the Princeton Review’s list of the top party schools just two years ago, but this year, it failed to even make the list of the top 20.

For many years, UMass Amherst has had the popular title of “Zoomass.”

This nickname was previously upheld by many rowdy parties, riots, and destructive actions such as the burning of police cars and other forms of violence.

All of these events happened before Chief Whitehead was at UMass but he noticed complaints even by students. He said he knew that a different approach was needed when he became the chief of police.

Major events such as the “Hobart Hoedown,” which according to the UMass Wiki is, “…a yearly informally scheduled mega-party centered on Hobart Lane,” have not been as rowdy in the past few years. Some students may remember that it was shut down before it was even started and did not live up to its expectations last spring.

Sophomore Katlynn Ferreira says, “Hobart Hoedown is supposed to be the one thing the students look forward to all year, and it just didn’t happen. It was a huge disappointment.”

This disappointment to the students was not what the UMass Police were aiming for in their attempt to shutdown the hoedown, but they did what they had to in order to keep everyone safe.

Deputy Chief Archbald says, “I’ve seen a lot of protests, I’ve seen all the riots in southwest.” But he also adds, “I think we can take responsibility for some of the change in the culture, but it certainly is the students.”

Chief Whitehead also says, “We have some great students,” at graduation he didn’t recognize the majority of them because they were smart and didn’t get themselves into trouble. The students that attend school here are graduating with a degree, and they do not want it to be tainted with the reputation of ‘Zoomass’.”