Last weekend’s abnormal number of emergency medical calls in Amherst is a wake-up call to town and University of Massachusetts officials that continued work is needed to control student partying and encourage responsible behavior.
There were 18 calls to the Fire Department for medical assistance between 11 p.m. Jan. 28 and 2:55 a.m. Jan. 20, which overwhelmed the eight Amherst fire paramedics who were on duty. As a result, ambulances from Northampton and Belchertown responded to half those calls under a mutual aid agreement.
Many of those calls involved young people who were taken to hospitals for recovery from high levels of intoxication, said Fire Chief Walter “Tim” Nelson. “They were just drunk. They were very drunk, very bad.”
Particularly troubling is that in addition to taking ambulances away from two neighboring communities, the volume of medical calls resulted a dozen times in Amherst fire engines — rather than an ambulance — being used as first-response vehicles. That would have slowed the response of firefighters had a fire occurred during those times dominated by medical calls.
It was the first weekend of the spring semester that students were back on campus, but the misbehavior fueled by alcohol consumption was unusual for the winter, Nelson said. That large volume is more typical in the warmer weather of fall and spring, which often prompts the Fire Department to increase its typical weekend staffing to 13 paramedics.
UMass and local police face an immediate test this weekend when the New England Patriots play in the Super Bowl on Sunday night. We hope for a repeat of measures taken two years ago — the last time the Patriots appeared in a Super Bowl — which discouraged large gatherings on campus. UMass again this year will ban off-campus guests from dorms between noon Sunday and 8 a.m. Monday, and will limit the number of students who are allowed into dorms where they don’t live during those hours. Viewing parties will be held throughout campus.
The post-game gathering outside the Southwest residential area — typically where destructive behavior has occurred after major sporting events involving New England teams — was calmer in 2015 than in the past. An estimated 2,000 people gathered, with some climbing trees and throwing toilet paper and water bottles, and one arrest for disorderly conduct was reported. A UMass spokesman described that scene as “a boisterous celebration, which one would expect after the Super Bowl,” and police in everyday uniforms controlled the crowd.
That was in contrast to the last World Series win by the Boston Red Sox, in October 2013, when UMass and state police dressed in riot gear launched a smoke bomb and pepper pellets while dispersing a crowd of more than 3,000 outside Southwest. Fires were set and 14 UMass students were arrested.
Beyond this weekend, we hope that UMass officials continue building on reforms recommended in a 2014 report by former Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis in the wake of that year’s off-campus Blarney Blowout during March which resulted in nearly 60 arrests.
We are encouraged by the cooperation between the Amherst Police neighborhood liaison officer, William Laramee, and his counterpart at UMass, Eric Beal, to reduce off-campus disturbances. Most recently, they introduced a program known as Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, which attempts to make less attractive for partying some of the off-campus areas where large numbers of students typically have gathered.
Laramee says the goal is discourage drinking and rowdyism in residential neighborhoods near the UMass campus. “This is about how to reduce crime through subtle or significant changes to the environment.”
For example, Townhouse Apartments in North Amherst, with its large grassy areas hidden from public roads, is a popular spot for big parties, as is a dimly lit field on nearby Hobart Lane. Among the potential solutions is removing hedges and fences that help shield those areas, and improving lighting.
The neighborhood liaisons work with property owners, businesses, and the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce as part of stepped-up town-gown relations. “A lot of work we do is building relationships and building trust,” Laramee says. “We’ve got people engaged and concerned, and people are talking.”
We hope that collaboration to encourage responsible student behavior — rather than the rowdyism of last weekend — sets the tone for Super Bowl weekend and beyond.