Campus Police Records Should Be Opened To Public Scrutiny

To the editors:



A recent Crimson article (“Violent Crime Drops at Harvard,” news, Oct. 11) quotes Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) spokesman Steven G. Catalano as saying “we are transparent and have nothing to hide” with respect to crime reporting. Unfortunately that isn’t the case. Harvard fought all the way to the Supreme Judicial Court earlier this year to keep campus police reports secret. Now along with other private colleges they’re fighting hard to kill state legislation, Senate No. 1735, that would open crime reports to students and employees who could use the information to avoid criminal victimization. If HUPD truly has nothing to hide, it should drop its opposition to the bill and open up its crime records.



S. DANIEL CARTER

King of Prussia, Pa.

October 13, 2006

The writer is senior vice president of Security On Campus, Inc.