A recent upswing in police interactions with Tufts students has many worried about not only personal legal rights but also about issues of systematic misapplication of the law by local authorities. Members of the Tufts community deserve to be treated with respect by local authorities in the same way that local residents deserve to sleep soundly at night.
Tufts students and community members alike have long been aware of the tension that exists between the respective communities.
Part of this tension simply owes to a difference in scheduling: while most local residents have to go to sleep early to work the next morning, many Tufts students would prefer to be out with friends. When the number of friends grows and the noise becomes too loud, local police are forced to intervene to protect the rights of the citizens who need their sleep.
The rights of the host community on the Hill deserve diligent protection by the police, and it is laudable that they seem to take their job of serving local residents very seriously. Unfortunately, this sense of duty does not seem to extend to members of the Tufts community, who oftentimes are treated inappropriately by the local authorities, most notably the Somerville Police Department.
An incident at 41 Conwell Avenue, where SPD officers allegedly removed a keg from the residence of students that were of legal drinking age only raises more troubling concerns about local practices.
Tufts students who live on the streets of Somerville and Medford are entitled to the same rights and privileges as permanent residents. In paying their rent they also pay property taxes and thus are entitled to municipal services, including police.
All too often, it seems that University students are subjected to punishing enforcement and resultant fines due to very minor violations. A cornerstone of law is fair and equal enforcement of the it.
With this in mind, it is unfair to selectively enforce restrictive local laws on students that have a limited knowledge of local code and little access to legal resources in the h0ost community. Students are already in a vulnerable position and are often all too willing to submit to arbitrary police practices, which is fair to neither students or to justice.
Perhaps even more worrisome is the effect selective enforcement of liquor laws and noise ordinances is having on the overall deterrence of criminal activity in the vicinity of Tufts.
This campus has witnessed an armed robbery and a case of vandalism take place on the same street just one night apart. We have recently had a Tufts student robbed in University housing at gunpoint and a car driven drunk into a University house.
Perhaps these incidents would have occurred even if the local police had devoted their resources to deterring violent and property crimes instead of misdemeanors.
Unfortunately, the obsession of the local authorities with shutting down parties has taken their focus off of what is a larger concern for both Tufts and the host communities: crime that deprives them of safety and property.
The residents of Medford and Somerville certainly deserve cooperation and respect from their student-neighbors. In return, however, students should feel comfortable knowing that local police know the legal boundaries and are prepared to respect them.
