As Tufts students continue to be arrested by the Somerville Police Department (SPD) for open container and noise violations, an alderman who fought for the increased police presence said he is seeing no improvements in student behavior.
Both off-campus students and local residents are annoyed, as Somerville aldermen claim that their residents are being disrupted and students feel especially targeted for punishment.
Alderman of Ward 6, John Connolly, said students are not being targeted and that "the students are no different than anybody who is drinking in public." Ward 6 borders Tufts and covers the area near Bromfield Rd. and College Ave.
Connolly said, "The last thing a cop wants to do is lock someone up; any arrest involves some amount of time, and it's not like the cops are looking for trouble."
According to Connolly, this spring the number of arrested Tufts students has gone down in his ward. "This year there have not been a lot of complaints, other years we had three or four 'party houses.'"
Ward 7 Alderman Bob Trane said that he has seen the opposite in his ward, where "this year seems to get steadily worse." Trane's ward covers the majority of the Somerville portion of the Tufts campus. He encouraged the SPD to increase its presence in the area surrounding the University.
An additional Somerville police cruiser has been added to patrol the Tufts area over the weekend, Trane said, and this will not be diverting resources from the rest of the community.
But Connolly was not as sure.
"Obviously any time an officer responds to a call it ties up lots of resources," he said. According to Connoly, it takes up a significant amount of the officers' time because they generally end up at a house a number of times throughout the evening, and then they have to wait for the party to disperse.
Alderman for Ward 4 in East Somerville Walter Pero said that breaking up parties is necessary, but a drain on the city's police forces. He said, "[house parties] are more of a nuisance [than crime] but they still have to respond. An officer may not then be able to respond to another call across the city."
Director of Community Relations Barbara Rubel said that while residents appreciate the fact that there are more serious issues - such as drugs - for the city to deal with, they also want their peace and quiet. "If you asked any resident I'm sure they wouldn't hesitate to say that stopping drugs is more important [than off-campus parties], but the people whose lives are being disrupted deserve attention too."
One student who was arrested for an open container violation feels that the city has been targeting students. While walking a friend home and carrying an open bottle, a Somerville police officer told the student to get rid of the beverage.
"The cop said 'you can't have that,' and so I gave him the beer. Then he got out of the car and just cuffed me," said the student, who wished to remain anonymous.
Rubel said that in most cases, "The people who dumped the alcohol out and threw out the can weren't arrested. The people who were arrested were not cooperative."
Connolly agreed with Rubel and said that "Generally speaking, the officer will ask the student to empty the container out; if they get defensive or have had a few too many," that's when problems occur.
After being held in custody for about three hours, the student was required to appear in court. "The judge laughed at my crime," the student said. "I was in a courtroom with people arrested for aggravated assault and other felonies, and I'm there for a misdemeanor."
The student was highly critical of the SPD's attitude toward students. "The attitude of Somerville police is pretty demeaning," he said. "They are on power trips and they know they can walk through campus and arrest six people in 30 minutes."
Another student who was arrested for open liquor violations felt the same way, saying "Somerville completely targeted me for this crime. I know what I did was illegal, but it's harmless. There needs to be a re-prioritization of the Somerville police force."
Rubel disagrees with the student's interpretation of his crime and said that it is the community's responsibility to deal with problems such as these. "Yes, some of the people involved were Tufts students, but were they targeted?" Rubel said. "I don't think that's fair to say."
Connolly said that, concerning off-campus house parties, this school year there was only one problem house that the city dealt with early in the year. "The first few warm nights we try to nip them in the bud."
To deal with problem houses Connolly said, "Typically the first thing is to contact the landlord. Often absentee landlords don't know [what's happening on their property]." Connolly said that if the landlord is not managing the house well it is often easy to find code violations after a safety check.
Pero suggested that the perceived increase in noise disturbances may also have adverse affects for the Tufts community. These problems "tend to lessen the respect of the general public towards Tufts."
He added that neighbors don't "feel the advantages of a world class university, they see the problems."
Trane said that offenses like noise violations "are not minor crimes, people have a right to quality of life."
Trane suggested some sort of orientation program for people living off-campus, beyond the Good Neighbor Policy, which is already distributed.
After a number of incidents with Sigma Phi Epsilon (Sig Ep) in October, Trane and Sig Ep President Jon Kluge met with administrators to work out the problems.
Trane described Sig Ep as "over the top."
Kluge said that the house has been making a number of efforts to calm their parties, including having sober brothers monitor the condition of the parties and ensure that everything is under control.
Kluge said that once the "lines of communication were opened with neighbors, things went much better."
He did, however, feel that "Trane targeted us because he wanted to set a precedent."
Things have since calmed down, Kluge said. "Students do have a right to party, as long as they are respecting the neighbors."
"The issue is just that people don't know how to be good neighbors," Connolly said.
