Police, City Brace for Weekend

As Harvard prepares for thousands of students to descend on Cambridge for the Head of the Charles Regatta this weekend, police and city officials say they are ready to deal with security problems.

The Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) and Harvard police are coordinating efforts to maintain peace and order during the Oct. 21 event.

Harvard police will take extra security measures to prevent unauthorized visitors from entering residential buildings and grounds on campus. All gates to the Yard and the river houses will be secured from 6 p.m. on Friday to 4 p.m. on Sunday.

People wishing to enter the Yard or houses will have to show guards a Harvard bursar's card. Harvard students will be allowed only one guest each, according to Michelle Hewitt in the Dean of Students Office.

Despite MDC budget cuts this year, the agency's police contingent will be present in full force, said Leanne Del Vecchio, a spokesperson for the MDC, which maintains and polices a number of public areas in the Boston area, including the Charles River.

"I don't think that [security] coverage of the Head of the Charles will be affected," said Del Vecchio, noting that MDC personnel cutbacks will not include police officers.

In recent years, the MDC has cracked down on public alcohol consumption and unruly behavior at the Head of the Charles. And spokesperson Larry Gillis stressed that the security officers will again exercise strict controls over crowd activity.

"We'll be strictly enforcing the liquor infractions," said Gillis. "We do confiscate any liquor or alcohol."

While Harvard police will be patrolling the campus, the MDC police force, which Gillis said will include 170 officers, will be the primary security presence at the regatta.

"Most of them will be on foot patrol. We'll have undercover officers working through the crowd looking for drug violations," said Gillis.

Cambridge Mayor Alice K. Wolff met with City Manager Robert W. Healy on Monday to investigate the ability of the MDC to keep the regatta under control, after the organization's budget was cut by $16 million. Del Vecchio said yesterday that the proposed budget cut has been reduced by $3.9 million.