Police Expert Will Evaluate Harvard Force

The expert consultant whom Harvard has hired to study the University police force said yesterday he will begin a "complete management audit" of the force next month to examine the organizational problems that have dogged the department for the past two years.

John T. Howland, director of the Institute of Public Service Management, said his firm will "look at everything in the organization and talk to faculty, administration, policemen and everyone else" as part of the study.

Harvard called in Howland's 50 member, non-profit firm last week after its contract negotiations with the Harvard Patrolmen's Association stalled over the union's complaints that recent organizational changes had "completely destroyed morale" in the department.

Howland, a retired police superintendent who spent 30 years with the Boston Police Department, said the up coming study will deal with all aspects of the police organization, not only the morale issue.

"We really haven't heard about these management-labor overtones yet--we intend to focus on all of the aspects and liabilities of the department," he said.

The University will pay for the study, which Howland said will begin the first week in May with meetings involving police officials and union leaders. The company must submit an estimate of the study's costs and sign a contract with Harvard by May 1.

Several members of the union said yesterday they doubt the study will recommend significant changes in the department's structure. The current organizational dispute reached a head last March when David L. Gorski, chief of University police, resigned after two years of union opposition to his proposed organizational changes.

Although Laurence F. Letteri, president of the union, last week called the decision to hire Howland's firm "a promising development," other patrolmen said they think the study will not accomplish much.

"This whole study don't mean a thing--everybody knows damn well it's just going to be a whitewash for Gorski," one policeman said.