If you have spent anytime near the off-campus apartments on Egmont, Thatcher and St. Paul streets, you may have seen or been stopped by a black, unmarked police car patrolling the area. The cruiser is a manifestation of a new initiative undertaken by the Brookline Police Department designed to target students living in the general vicinity of Egmont Street for increased police supervision. The goal of such a program is to send students a message: any sort of disorderly conduct will not be tolerated.
However, the methods the Brookline police have used to accomplish this objective have made it clear that any sort of conduct by Boston University’s off-campus students will not be tolerated. They have taken to questioning residents outside, demanding that they return to their apartment buildings immediately or leave the general vicinity; the mere act of making a phone call, talking or smoking a cigarette outside your rented apartment building is treated as a crime. Since many buildings are old, the only option for students to get cellphone reception is to go outside.
Those who question the authorities are aggressively reprimanded and receive no answers as to why they must return inside so abruptly. It seems that the aim of Brookline police is to arrest or intimidate as many students as possible.
The Brookline police have overstepped their bounds. I understand that they are commissioned to protect and serve, but does that really entail questioning every student making a late-night phone call?
BU students deserve to be treated better. As a result, the Student Union plans to bring these concerns before the Brookline Town Council. The next meeting in which the general public can raise issues is this Tuesday, Oct. 16 at 5 p.m., and I hope that all of you will join me at this meeting to voice your concern. The greater the number of students who attend, the more powerful our voice will be. The relevance of this issue is universal; these types of police actions must be stopped now. Tonight, Egmont Street might be targeted, but tomorrow, it might be your street.
If you have a story about being targeted by the police or have any questions or concerns, I encourage you to email me at jjkramer@bu.edu.
Again, please join me tomorrow, Oct. 16 at 5 p.m. at the Brookline Town Council meeting in the auditorium of Old Lincoln School, 194 Boylston St. in Brookline.
Jesse Kramer
CAS ’08
Director of City Affairs
Boston University Student Union
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