New, Outsourced Security Guards Criticized by Some HUPD Officers

Walking into the foyer of Claverly Hall one recent evening, students were startled to find the Security Systems Incorporated (SSI) guard changing clothes in the foyer.

This incident was just one of many, according to Harvard University Police Depa0rtment (HUPD) officers and students, where the new SSI guards behaved unprofessionally or incompetently over the last few months.

SSI guards have become a fixture on campus this year as Harvard's old proprietary guard force is phased out. The new white-uniformed guards are now stationed in most undergraduate Houses and other College buildings.

Harvard began using SSI to provide security at the College this summer, saying the new guard force would be larger and better trained.

"The biggest issue we had with the University guards was we didn't have the manpower," says Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) Sergeant Robert J. Kotowski. "The most important thing to us is to have someone at every site."

Some SSI guards have won good reviews from police and students. Still, the high turnover in the out-sourced security guard industry may keep guards from developing a solid rapport with students.

Furthermore, students and some Harvard police officers say might be causing more problems than they've solved. Communication problems and inexperience have led to embarrassing and potentially dangerous situations.

Most of the police and Harvard security guards would only be interviewed on condition of anonymity.

Over the last week, SSI refused to return repeated calls for comment on this story.

Static

Police and students confirmed a series of problems with SSI guards.

Communication between a guard and the Harvard Police dispatchers is perhaps the single most important factor in providing effective security, officers and guards say.

So it disturbs them that dispatchers routinely have trouble getting SSI guards to respond to calls on their radio frequency.

They recount instances when they've had to call the on-duty SSI supervisor to track down a guard who won't respond to repeated calls.

And when they do respond, SSI guards often reply to calls intended for others, HUPD officers said.

HUPD officers said they fear that the situation in which the alleged "Yard Burglar" was captured two weeks ago might not have happened with SSI guards on duty.

Harvard Yard is still patrolled by proprietary guards, and so Harvard guard Ernie Duarte was the one to pinpoint the burglar's location by tracking his movements through the key-card system.

Following Duarte's actions, fellow guards and some police lamented that the sort of the alert, hands-on security that Duarte provided may soon be missing from campus.

"I don't think we'll be seeing more of what Ernie did," one HUPD officer said.

Harvard Police Chief Francis D. "Bud" Riley disagreed, saying an SSI guard could have done the same thing.

"Anyone who is paying good attention will pick up on things like that," Riley says.

Another difficulty with the SSI guards, according to police, came during Head of the Charles Weekend, when the speaker at a Faculty Club dinner was prevented from entering the Yard SSI guards because he didn't have a Harvard I.D.

The speaker found some uniformed Harvard guards, who let him in.

"The SSI guards can't make exceptions," says one Harvard guard. "They're trained to only work within the box."

Another problem reported by HUPD officers and students is some SSI guards' lack of proficiency in English.

For instance, students and police reported seeing a guard translating a memo from SSI by typing it into a hand-held translator, word-by-word.

Riley says that he thinks most of the guards do speak English.

Still, he said, "someone with marginal English wouldn't necessarily be a problem."

Benefits of New Guards

Not all reviews of the SSI guards are bad. Some new guards--hired by Harvard because they were touted as better-trained than the proprietary guards--have been applauded by students and officials.

In particular, students praise Cort Ellis, an SSI guard in Quincy House, saying he is making an effort to get to know students' names and rooms.

"I've heard positive stuff [from students]," says Ronnie Levesque, the Superintendent of Quincy House.

By keeping Ellis at Quincy, Riley says, SSI is only following through on a promise it made to the University.

"SSI says they will try to keep the same people at all the Houses," Riley says.

Still, some question whether SSI's high turnover rate will hinder security efforts.

Guards at companies like SSI do not usually stay very long--typically only three or four months, according to industry estimates.

Guards, police, and students all question whether that gives guards enough time to learn the campus.

"Turnover [at SSI] is 100%," says one University guard. "We know the Harvard community. That's the biggest difference."

The Final Word

Nobody disputes that Harvard's security guards are integral to campus security.

"[The guards] are the eyes and ears of the police," Kotowski says

And, though some at HUPD admit that there have been "growing pains" as the guards learn the ropes around campus, they say security is still better than it was.

"Safety and security have not been compromised, to the contrary it has been improved," Kotowski says. "All the sites are manned."

Still, not everyone in HUPD agrees with this assessment.

"It's not going to happen overnight, but at some point the University's going to realize the vast disservice it did to the campus," one HUPD officer says.

Riley says he's taking the allegations seriously, and will continue to evaluate the SSI guards' performance.

"Am I concerned about security?" he asks. "I'm always concerned about security. T hat's my job."