With sirens blaring and blue lights flashing, a Harvard police cruiser speeds down Mount Auburn St. at 1:30 a.m. and comes to a screeching halt just outside Leverett House.

Officer Jim Crowley hops out of the car. He discovers another car with its passenger window shattered. He glances around cautiously.

No suspect is in sight.

And so it goes. Another night on the job for the bullet-proof-vest-clad officer.

After several years of declining requests for ride-alongs, the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD), which is in the midst of implementing a community policing plan under new Chief Francis D. "Bud" Riley, allowed The Crimson to ride along with its two men in blue last Saturday night.

Riley has made an effort to make his officers more accessible to the community. In particular, the chief's plans are aimed at dispelling student opinion that the cops are either cold and distant or unprofessional.

But the reality of a day in the life of a Harvard cop is far from common perception.

The Shift

The shift begins in the bowels of HUPD's headquarters on 29 Garden St.

The officers gather for roll call in a bland, stark room that is plastered with pictures of wanted criminals. The watch commander reads reports from the previous two shifts, highlighting areas that need extra attention.

After 10 minutes, about five officers trickle out of roll call and walk through the booking room--a sanitized, predominately white room filled with finger-printing equipment and two holding cells.

They enter the concrete garage, which under its artificial lighting, resembles a miniature car lot specializing in white police cruisers.

They each slide into their vehicles and, driving through an automatic door, the officers ride out onto bustling Garden Street.

And the driving begins.

Harvard police officers patrol one of a handful of assigned sectors, including the Law School/Biolabs, the Business School, the Medical School, the River and Radcliffe.

This shift is uneventful. Crowley, who works the graveyard shift (mid-night to 8 a.m.) drives around, scanning the roadside for anything out of the ordinary.