Thursday, Nov 14, a report summarizing findings from campus safety forums and listening sessions that have been held throughout the past few months was sent to the Smith community, explaining what steps the Campus Safety Advisory Group will be taking going forward and what feedback it has received about Smith’s police department.
In June, Smith College announced that after ten years of having a joint police department with Mount Holyoke College, the departments will be splitting, and Smith will be developing an independent department. This split will take place July, 2020.
This semester, the Campus Safety Advisory Group, a committee at Smith College of faculty and students that is working to develop Smith’s new independent police department, has held a series of open forums with the community and listening sessions with invited governance bodies to collect feedback on what the new department should look like.
The advisory group stated in its report that improved relationships between officers and the community, the community’s needs, and more individual responses to calls made to Campus police will be the pillars of Smith’s new department. “The top priority will be better community engagement.”
The committee heard multiple suggestions that officers receive training aimed at creating a broader understanding of factors that contribute to some individuals’ lack of trust in law enforcement.
Additionally, a few community members suggested more training on mental health and crisis intervention.
Anonymous community members were quoted in the report sent out by the Campus Safety Advisory Group.
One community member said they’d like to see “more robust training on a variety of subjects including social justice, diversity, supporting marginalized populations, supporting assault survivors, etc.”
“The ideal department would have better relationships with students, particularly marginalized populations,” said another community member.
“As someone who did not grow up with positive views of police, I think we need to build relationships throughout the community to grow together,” one person said.
Attendees of the forums and sessions disagreed on whether or not Smith’s department should change its name.
“The name ‘campus police’ should be changed to ‘campus safety.’ They are the fastest and first responders on campus and are there for the safety of students,” one person said.
“I strongly advise against changing the name,” said another. “Campus police is appropriate. If the department is called campus safety but they act as police, there will be problems. Make the department more accountable.”
Many people were not familiar with the community policing programs offered at Smith and who could participate in them
“I would like to see the safety department being a part of the educational mission of the college by educating students and faculty about safety issues and their role on campus,” said a community member.
A common complaint was that with dispatch being in Mount Holyoke, they are not aware of the layout of Smith’s campus.
One person encouraged creating “opportunities to meet officers in casual settings so there are relationships before they are needed in an emergency.”
“Police being visible makes some people feel less safe – especially people from communities with historically poor relationships with police, i.e. people of color and trans folks. Improving those relationships would help way more with ‘community’ than increasing ‘visibility’ of programs,” said another community member.
Over half of the recorded comments related to community engagement, two thirds of which were about creating opportunities for students and community members to get to know police officers on campus.
The report was sent in an email by Interim Vice President for Finance and Administration, David Deswert.
Over 425 community members provided feedback and over 750 comments were recorded.
Feedback continues to be collected through a dedicated email address, an anonymous form and a series of listening sessions and focus groups that will continue to be held until July.
Feedback collected to date and moving forward will be used by the Campus Safety Advisory Group to make recommendations to the vice president for finance and administration and the president, who will make the final decision on the direction of campus safety at Smith.
