Police Hesitate To Implement Trespass Plan

Reluctance to extend use of computerized descriptions of trespass suspects and the lengthy retraining process of policemen have impeded the Harvard Police's November plan for a major policy shift toward stricter enforcement of trespass laws, a Harvard police captain said Thursday.

Captain Jeffrey S. Kahn said that police would use computerized trespasser descriptions to quickly identify previously-warned suspects. The law requires a policeman to issue a warning before a trespass arrest and limits the amount of time he may detain a suspect.

The Harvard Police are currently consulting administration, faculty, and student opinion about enlarged data banks since some may fear that computerized descriptions threaten personal privacy, Kahn said.

President Horner, a member of the University Crime Committee, said yesterday that she supports stricter enforcement of trespassing laws but is "dead-set against" extensive record-keeping which could cause "anyone to be paranoid."

Preparations to implement the policy include retraining officers in rules of conduct during an arrest in addition to defining which trespassers "constitute a threat to the life and property of the Harvard community," Kahn said.

"What a person looks like--I mean whether he fits the description of a known criminal, proximity to the scene of a crime, demeanor, time and place" plus "police sense" enter into a policeman's assessment of a trespasser's intentions, Kahn said.

Despite the difficulties with a major change in trespasser policy, the police are "advocating a harder line on trespassing" by increasing the number of trespass arrests this semester, Kahn said.

Police have charged seven persons with trespassing this semester, compared to only three such arrests during the fall semester. During this period, theft and violent crime have decreased by about 40 per cent, Kahn said.

Kahn said that police plan to enforce the new policy this summer.