The Harvard University Police Department announced plans to close a police substation last month after students and staff complained the station was intimidating.
The substation was attached to the undergraduate student dormitory Mather House and had been in operation since 2005.
“The decision to close the Mather House substation was made last week in response to concerns raised by Mather House staff and students as well as the amount of use of the substation by officers and community members,” Harvard University Police Department spokesman Steven Catalano said in a statement quoted by the Harvard Crimson.
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Students told the Harvard student newspaper that the presence of the station “implies that we’re being watched and policed” and that “the real effect … the presence of the HUPD substation has on the Mather community is simply a violent, visual intimidation tactic that students are forced to see every time they enter the house.”
The Harvard University Police Department maintains three other substations on campus, the Crimson reported, and Catalano said the closure of the Mather substation “will not impact the Department’s ability to respond to calls from the community in an effective and timely manner.”
Despite the announced closure, one student told the Crimson that “for real justice to exist on this campus,” the university police department “must be abolished.”
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“It’s really important that we keep these violent institutions outside of residences,” the student said. “Ultimately, HUPD remains the police force that disproportionately targets Black and Brown people here on campus and in Cambridge.”
