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Remarks at Dedication of new Police Department Building

September 30, 2011

Good afternoon, everyone!

Welcome to the dedication of the University of Massachusetts Amherst Police Department’s remarkable new building. It is my pleasure to be here for this important milestone in the continuing evolution of our campus.

When you consider the highest purpose of a university, which is to support human enlightenment through advanced study, that purpose is a very high rung on the hierarchy of needs. Safety would seem to be a foregone conclusion.

But it isn’t: it’s careful and critical. Study needs safety: without trust and confidence, students and faculty would not be able to focus energy on their scholarship.

So a well-equipped police force is essential, especially at a huge scholarly community with a permeable boundary. Our police force has to be deft and adaptable, to be able to evolve according to the needs of our campus and our neighbors.

Such is the true importance of this occasion: that we are dedicating a building that will allow the UMPD to do its very best to serve and protect, to make UMass Amherst a safe place to study, and a good neighbor.

This is a building that will be useful and used for decades. It was imagined according to its ability to answer not only contemporary needs, but its ability to adapt to an ever-expanding and changing campus, in a changing world.

So let’s consider these innovations:

This new building features a dispatch center that allows UMPD to work in close concert with the police departments of Amherst, Hadley, and Belchertown, and to support mutual aid agreements with our neighbor and host communities. We already share joint training and field training with the Amherst PD: this new building will enhance those programs, and will allow us to be an even better host to national speakers and trainers.

The new building also boasts a new emergency operations center, to serve as a central nervous system of communication and command during a crisis or a natural disaster.
 
And it is a spacious and versatile facility not only for fighting crime, but also for preventing crime: through hosting programs like RAD, the Citizens Police Academy, and active threats training.

And as it is built with an eye to the future, we are proud to announce that it is the first fully LEED-certified building on campus, thus embodying our green values of this community.

UMPD is an integral part of UMass Amherst, not only responding to emergencies and calls for service, but also supporting athletic events, shows, and concerts at the Mullins Center, performances at the Fine Arts Center, and tailgating at football games. Our campus life is safe to flourish fully because of police protection.

We gratefully acknowledge the contributions of the local police departments of Amherst, Hadley, and Belchertown: our contiguous and host communities. We would not be able to do our best work, if not for communication and support from you.

In this new building, the UMPD no longer has to make do: it gets to excel. The belief in that potential is why we have higher education in the first place, and one reason why I am so proud to be here with you today.