The younger officers "were feeling quite frustrated," Kelling says, with being told that they were too aggressive.

"[Y]ou have basically very good officers with not a whole lot of work to do," he says.

The sworn officers took pains to separate their work from that of Harvard's security guards.

"The police department being part of `Harvard University Police and Security' threatens some officers to the extent that they deeply resent that their business cards and stationary mention even security," Kelling wrote in his report.

Approached on Mt. Auburn Street on a May morning, five officers visibly recoiled when asked their opinions about HUPD's restructuring.

"I can only think of four letter words," one officer said.

"I think it's only supported by the upper ranks of the department," said another.

In another interview, George White, the president of the HUPD officers' union, said, "You don't want to hear what I'd have to say" about the changes. He declined further comment, citing ongoing contract negotiations.

Many officers mentioned Riley's hiring of former state police officers to fill paid consultant positions. Others questioned Riley's skills as a communicator, recalling incidents when Riley dressed them down for petty offenses.

"This concern is voiced enough that it must be taken seriously," Kelling wrote.

Riley admits that he has a hard edge but says it is only in response to an intransigent department bureaucracy.

"For any one of my naysayers, I could point in the direction of people who are very happy and very enthusiastic members of the department," he says.

Tarnishing the Brass

Riley's decisions and leadership--not a man to seek or heed consensus, his critics charge he makes decisions by himself and fails to justify them to others--have led to a number of other internal problems in the same time.

According to multiple sources, when he arrived Riley soon asked his lieutenants and sergeants a simple question: "What do you do here?"