A New, Tough Stand

As Edward W. Powers, Harvard's director of employee relations, said yesterday, "Dave Gorski was brought here to make changes." Gorski, who replaced Robert Tonis as Harvard's police chief earlier this year, has made it clear that he intends to live up to the University's expectations of him.

Earlier this week, Gorski said he is planning to institute a radical change in the police force next semester--Harvard police will be expected to arrest trespassers in University buildings.

Gorski sees this new arrest policy--which has the support of the University committee on crime, chaired by Stephen S.J. Hall, vice-president for administration--as a means of significantly reducing the property theft rate at Harvard. Hall said Wednesday that $3000 to $4000 worth of property is stolen each week.

Under an unwritten but perceived policy, Harvard cops have in the past given trespassers a number of warnings before making arrests. Several police officers on the Harvard force have never made an arrest, Gorski says.

Changing the arrest policy so substantively is actually a major step toward changing the nature of the Harvard police force, as Gorski recognizes. To make the transition easier, the new police chief is planning a training period during which cops will be schooled in criminal law, in "stop and frisk" procedures, and in arrest tactics.