Another blow to an already weak social life

As a junior in the School of Engineering, I will simply present the facts and my interpretation of their significance. I will let you analyze the matter, and decide how it pertains to you personally, and to our community as a whole.

On Feb. 13, 2004, the Association of Latin American Students (ALAS) hosted an registered, alcohol-free party at Milne House, a house that is affiliated with the University. Each member of the association was assigned door-duty times in order to maintain orderly conduct within the surrounding environment. Following the University's social protocol and registering the party meant that the house would become subject to a patrol car constantly patrolling the area starting at 10 p.m.

At one point in the night, a Somerville police officer approached a member of the Association and repeatedly told the member in a threatening manner that the party better be a registered party and that no one better be serving alcohol to minors. Knowing that we were following all of the Tufts' regulations, the member described the situation to the officer and the officer drove away. As is the norm, around 1:38 a.m. a platoon of cars rushed the house, and a legion of officers approached the house manager, who was standing outside, and ordered her to shut the music off and to end the party. Apparently, some neighbors had called in to complain and the party had to be shut down.

However, even before the house manager had an opportunity to alert the DJ, the officers were all already in the house, rudely ordering everyone to leave. They approached the DJ, a junior here, and commanded him to turn off the music. As soon as the music was off, in an attempt to keep the already fading desire to socialize alive, the DJ took the opportunity to announce that there was another party going on at Hotung until 3 a.m.

The DJ's announcement for some reason infuriated the Somerville police officer, and in a childishly illogical way, the officer began to threaten the student's equipment and even went so far as to use physical force to pull the student away from his equipment. After having his hat knocked off and being publicly humiliated, the student repeatedly asked the officer to let him go but the officer refused. When the officer finally did let the student go, he allowed him to return to his equipment and begin packing his things.

After a brief meeting by the ALAS e-board and residents of the house, we decided to file a complaint to Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) and Somerville PD on how the situation was handled by the officers. After a couple of phone calls that went nowhere, we decided to go down to the TUPD police station at around 2:30 a.m.

Unfortunately, the officer that broke up the party was the one working the desk, so he suggested that we file a complaint another day to another officer. When we asked if the reason he declined to write the report was because he would be bias, the officer refused to answer any more questions and told us to report it to the Somerville PD. So after getting directions from the officer to the Somerville police station, we went down there at around 3:15 a.m. and met with Lieutenant Cabral.

The police report that was filed contained the exaggerated statements. There were claims that there were 150 to175 people in Milne House (which is physically impossible), that there were students on the front porch with open containers, that there were beer cans all over the floor, and that those working the door were intoxicated. Most of our conversation with Lt. Cabral was spent talking about alcohol and crowd rowdiness -- neither topic really pertaining to the situation at hand -- but we also learned of some new developments that I feel should have been presented to the Tufts community prior to the incident.

According to Lt. Cabral, a new "task force" of Tufts and Somerville officers was established Feb. 13, 2004 -- the night of the party. Their sole objective is to crack down on the dramatic increase in social activity in the form of under-age drinking and disturbance of the peace seen on the Tufts campus over the last couple years. The actions taken by the cops the night of the ALAS party are part of a "tactic" that is -- and will continue to be -- used in order for the cops to accomplish their mission.

He went so far as to suggest that we be thankful for how the situation had been handled because they could have instead easily driven up in two vans, and arrested everyone in the house for disorderly conduct.In a mocking tone, Lt. Cabral explained to us how ineffective it would be if the cops nicely went up to someone and made demands in a polite way. When asked why physical force was necessary, Lt. Cabral simply informed us that there was a student was using a P.A. system to entice the crowd.

One of us made the mistake of using the no-no word -- "racism" -- and at this point, Lt. Cabral abruptly ended the meeting, stating that the issue at hand is not about racism but about respect. Ironically, those words ended up being the most pertinent thing out of his mouth all night.

Now why are we making this an issue? As Lt. Cabral correctly stated, no one was really injured. As I explained to Lt. Cabral, 90 percent of the parties I attend at Tufts end up being broken up. At that time, I simply go home, sober up, and go to bed. The reason we are upset is not because the party was broken up but because of the way the officers chose to handle the situation.

We feel that we do not need to wait until someone gets seriously injured before we begin to analyze how officers respond to certain situations. Somerville PD is simply not adept in dealing with college students. Officers should not use physical force unless the person presents a danger to the officer, himself, or others. Unfortunately, TUPD is incapable of dealing with us on its own, and so must have the assistance of Somerville PD to deal with the hardships of breaking up a college party. If this new "task force" exists as Lt. Cabral stated, Tufts University should have informed the Tufts community about these drastic changes in security measures on campus.

As a university with an already dismal party scene, we must ask ourselves: How are these new Gestapo tactics going to affect our social lives at Tufts? I think the answer is obvious. On that note, I will end my piece with a message from Lt. Cabral of the Somerville PD: from now on, those involved in any sort of social activity that creates a disturbance of the peace will be arrested by the bus-load.

Christian Capellan is a junior majoring in computer science.