Middlesex DA Leone Hosts College Safety Meeting

Tufts University was one of several local colleges that participated in a bi-annual college safety meeting hosted by the Middlesex County District Attorney.

In an effort to better protect the safety of students and faculty members on college campuses, the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office hosted a College Safety Summit on Tuesday.

The summit was attended by Campus Police Chiefs, Presidents, and members from the front offices of the Colleges and Universities throughout Middlesex County. Attendees addressed local and national safety issues and concerns and discussed plans and procedures that can be put in place to minimize the occurrence of serious matters and maximize the prevention of tragic consequences.

Representatives from Bentley College, Boston College, Boston University, Brandeis University, Cambridge College, Framingham State College, Harvard University, Lasell College, Lesley University, Merrimac College, Middlesex Community College, MIT, Mount Ida College, Pine Manor College, Regis College, Tufts University, and UMass Lowell were in attendance.

“In the past few weeks, we’ve seen a rash of serious violent crime occurring on college campuses and being committed by college aged young people,” District Attorney Leone said. “While we have always fostered good working partnerships with the Middlesex colleges, the apparent readiness of youth to resort to violence and weapons to resolve conflict is alarming. This apparent disregard for life and the corresponding compounding negative consequences that these bad decisions cause, strikes us as an issue that needs to be addressed. It is imperative that we continue to openly communicate and strengthen partnerships with university safety, security, and student life officials to ensure the safety of our students and others on campus from internal and external compromise.”

Colleges and Universities house over 7% of the United States population. College campuses throughout the United States are facing the growing problem of violent crime on and off their campuses; in April 2010, U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Department of Education and the Federal Bureau of Investigation released an extensive research report that indicated the incidents of college campus violence had drastically increased in the past 20 years.

With recent violent incidents taking place on campuses in Middlesex County and across the country, DA Leone believes it is imperative that efforts are made on the front end, intervening and preventing through education and training, to prevent tragic results from occurring on the back end.

“20 colleges and universities populate the 54 towns and cities of Middlesex County comprising over a quarter of the state’s population. I consider these schools a community in and of themselves, with a very unique population, that are within my responsibility to protect and serve,” DA Leone said. “These schools have several thousands of students, ranging between the age of 18 and 22, who are away from their normal safety and security networks for the first time. Most of these students are impressionable and range in maturity, handling newfound freedoms by experimenting on certain levels for the first time with alcohol, drugs and relationships. This combination of factors can be cause for concern that they will make bad decisions with serious consequences or be vulnerable to targeting by predators.”

When DA Leone took office in 2007, he established bi-annual meetings with college and university safety officials to focus on the unique safety and security issues on their campuses. Today’s consortium was the first in a series of meetings where representatives from schools’ administrations, as well as heads of campus safety and security staffs will be asked to continue to partner with the DA’s office on prevention efforts aimed at keeping campuses safe.

Anyone interested in joining the consortium should contact Diane MacDonald at 781-897-8300.

– Information from Middlesex County DA Gerry Leone