From day one of his tenure as chief, Rileysays, community policing was a way to improverelations between HUPD, guards and students.

The logical first step for community policingwas to involve the guards. who arguably know themost about the ways and means of campus life.

But there were problems. Riley says heencountered a communication breakdown that wasless easy to see, much less to fix.

"To be candid, the police officers didn'twanted to tainted by associating with the guards,"Riley says. "Candidly, there is a bit of elitismbuilt in there."

"The guards were very helpful in had insightsinto theoperations of Houses...insights that othersdidn't." And guards were enthusiastic, Riley says.

But Riley says guards balked at the schedulingcomplications involved in participation incommunity policing-the timing of training sessionand new postings.

Because no new guards have been hired since1990, the existing force is stretched thin, makingit hard to accommodate the new responsibilities.So the chief abandoned the idea.

"My community policing team leaders became sobogged down in trivialities that I needed to takethe guards out of it," Riley says.

So the security force that is arguably closestto the students is not a part of the University'sinitiative to make Harvard policing morestudent-centered.

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figureout that guards in the Houses are already in thecommunity," Riley admits.

Fee For Service

Riley's streamlining of the guardadministration saved the University at least$200,000 per year, according to several guards andone administration official.

According to Riley, the HUPD's budget deficitfor the fiscal year 1996 was probably in excess of$375,000.

But Riley says the savings generated by theguard shake-up never reached HUPD due to thestructure of the University's administration.

The guard unit is budgeted as part of FAS. TheHUPD and its sworn officers are a division of theUniversity's General counsel's office, and arefunded separately.