HUPD Chief Riley discusses crime on campus
As an urban campus in a major metropolitan area, Harvard University is exposed to its share of crime, more than 90 percent of it minor property crimes. Heightened attention to the issue came in the fall when several robberies near or on campus caught the notice of Harvard community members. With the suspected perpetrators arrested, Chief Francis D. Riley of the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) sat down with the Gazette to talk about personal safety and security on campus. Q: What’s the overall picture of crime on campus? The Harvard University campus consists of diverse facilities and environments in many locales: Cambridge, the Longwood Medical Area, Watertown, Allston, and elsewhere. Focusing on Cambridge, where most of the events in the fall took place, the bottom line is that the city is, statistically, very safe, and Harvard University is a safe campus within a safe city. Q: Several advisories were issued in the...