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Who’s responsible for unruly crowds of students like the one in Canton last month?

Posted 10/4/14

By CRAIG FREILICH CANTON – Who is responsible for policing unruly college student crowds off campus and outside the village in the Town of Canton? The Town of Canton has no police force, relying …

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Who’s responsible for unruly crowds of students like the one in Canton last month?

Posted

By CRAIG FREILICH

CANTON – Who is responsible for policing unruly college student crowds off campus and outside the village in the Town of Canton?

The Town of Canton has no police force, relying instead on state police and St. Lawrence County sheriff’s deputies. But deputies failed to respond early on Sept. 21 when 300 out-of-control partiers, mostly SUNY Canton students, were filling the streets, because they were “tied up with a couple of incidents elsewhere,” according to Sheriff Kevin Wells.

SUNY Canton’s police officers have the authority to make arrests off campus, and routinely patrol the neighborhood where the incident took place. But patrols by SUNY Canton, which has undergone rapid enrollment increases in recent years, were apparently not effective enough to head off the incident.

The Village of Canton police department – a service town residents don’t directly pay for – was the department that that took the lead in responding, and that appears okay with Mayor Mary Ann Ashley. “I support the decisions of the police department in handling this. This is a public safety issue,” she said

The current landlord, Adam Todd, who bought the house this year, was in Arizona at the time of the incident, according to the former owner, Tom Jenison.

Of course, the students themselves bear significant responsibility for what happened.

House Known to Police

Still, village Police Chief Lori McDougal says the house that hosted the party, at 1938 Old DeKalb Rd., just behind Coakley’s Hardware, had drawn the department’s attention at least three years ago, even though it is outside of their jurisdiction.

For many years, SUNY Canton officials have announced repeated enrollment increases and were fully aware many of their students live off campus, including areas adjacent to campus but outside the village.

So how much responsibility do the college and the town have to monitor, attempt to prevent and respond to events that threaten residents’ safety and property?

It’s an issue not unlike the unsuccessful 2011 vote to dissolve the village in nearby Potsdam, which like Canton, is home to two colleges that strain municipal resources but pay no property taxes. In Potsdam, much of the debate focused on whether town residents should help with the significant expense of maintaining a local police force, since it is required due in large part to the existence of the colleges which provide hundreds of jobs to town residents.

In Canton, the complainant, a neighbor on Old DeKalb Road, said there were about 100 young people being “drunk and disorderly,” according to the village police department incident report, citing what the sheriff’s office dispatcher told the Canton police.

Police went to the house, broke up the party, and then had to deal with an estimated 300 students who apparently were reluctant to go home. After about an hour, police “got the mass herd of subjects to enter onto the footbridges” to the campus, according to the police report.

SUNY Canton spokesman Greg Kie says the college police department has the authority to make arrests off campus, and that they regularly patrol the neighborhood where the incident began.

They responded with two cars after Canton’s village police arrived in the absence of other law enforcement. Sy. Lawrence University sent one security car, and two state troopers were at the scene, according to Sheriff Wells.

Town Grateful For Help

Asked about the police service the village officers provided over the line in the township, presumably at the expense of village taxpayers, Button said he was grateful.

“I have talked with the chief of village police and told her we appreciate the quick response,” Button said.

“If a taxpayer asked about (village police responding outside the village), I would say we’re all in this together,” Ashley said. “It’s about sharing services. When there’s a significant incident we all have to chip in.”

“The fact that they were called out when they were may have prevented it from escalating when it got to the village,” Supervisor Button said. “While the town very much appreciates it, the town did not call out the village police department.

“We’re obviously concerned about the safety of our citizens,” Button said. “We want college students to enjoy their years in Canton in a safe way.”

“It goes both ways,” village Police Chief McDougal said. “Sometimes we will ask for the sheriff’s assistance or state police assistance. We are taxed for manpower. Do I wish we had more? Sure, but I realize it’s a burden on the taxpayer.

“If we’re called out to something outside the village it’s usually not far out, and we usually keep one officer in the village. We would not leave the village uncovered. Now if the sheriff wanted us to respond 20 miles outside the village, that’s not realistic,” she said.

“But imagine if there wasn’t a local police force. There could have been destruction of property, fighting, disorder in the streets.”

McDougal said her department typically has two officers patrolling at night. During the first month of the college year, the experience of the department dictates that a third officer is on a half-shift on Friday and Saturday nights.

“It’s a problem sometimes, getting students back to campus,” Chief McDougal said. “We have discussed with SUNY Canton maybe using the Roos Shuttle to get them back.”

Such problems are not unusual in a college town. McDougal says a lot of the work of her department on weekend nights involves seeing that students get back home after bars close.

Party House Reputation

The house hosting the outsized party has a reputation among local police and certainly among several classes of students as a “party house.” Tenants of the house have exhibited a continuing pattern of disrespect for neighbors according to nearby residents.

No arrests were made following the Sept. 21 incident, but it is appropriate for police to try to disperse an unruly crowd without the potential escalation that could result from attempting to arrest a few people in a large crowd for relatively minor offenses such as walking in the street or making comments offensive to the police.

Sheriff Wells has made clear his primary duties are transporting prisoners and running the county jail. His limited number of deputies respond to complaints when they can, but he has told the county Board of Legislators that he does not have sufficient numbers of officers for regular road patrols.

State police are also spread thin, as they made clear during the 2011 debate over dissolution of the Potsdam village government.

The fact the village police responded outside the village, even if only by a few yards, does not appear to be an issue for Mayor Ashley and Canton Town Supervisor David Button, who both expressed gratitude to the police for not allowing the situation to escalate.

“The village board has 100 percent confidence in the police and their leadership,” said Ashley. “My understanding is that SUNY is addressing the issue. They are taking this very seriously,” she said.

John Kaplan, who retired as chief at the Potsdam Police Department and now serves as chief of police at both the SUNY Potsdam and SUNY Canton campuses, said that while this incident involved an unusually large number of young people, the nature of it is not unfamiliar.

“In Potsdam on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, officers were out just making sure they’re not in the roadway, not fighting, not breaking anything. When the bars empty out, our job is just making sure people get home safe, don’t get hit by cars,” he said.

Students Bear Much Responsibility

Mayor Ashley is clear who is responsible for the incident.

“I believe primary responsibility for this incident is with the students and their behavior. The landlord has some responsibility that the students are well behaved. Some landlords have ironclad leases that indicate that kind of thing, but some don’t.”

SUNY Canton Dean of Students Courtney Bish does not disagree.

“I can’t go into specifics, but we have followed up with students and given some sanctions like probation and community service, and working with neighbors to make amends,” Bish said. And she said she has spoken with the landlord, who is also taking the incident seriously.

“We’ve been working with the students we know were involved -- not a large number,” she said.

“It’s important to talk to them about their behavior and the ramifications, and about how to be a good neighbor and a good citizen.”

Does she think the situation called for arrests?

“Not necessarily. There was loud noise and a crowd control situation. We’re grateful how the police handled it,” Bish said.

“All this attention has forced the school to take action and I’m happy with that,” said McDougal.

“I’m happy the school is taking action, and I hope it has a lasting effect.”