UMASS-AMHERST TARGETS CAMPUS DRUG USE WITH POLICE CRACKDOWN

After a string of armed robberies linked to students' alleged drug dealing,
the University of Massachusetts at Amherst last week announced a crackdown
that includes 10 new police cadets, a satellite police station, and a
drug-sniffing dog.

In the past two semesters, the state's flagship campus has been shaken by
six armed robberies of students in their dorm rooms. Two weeks ago, police
searching for a stolen computer in a Kennedy Hall dorm room netted
marijuana and $24,000 in cash - the largest cash seizure on campus in
decades. Two roommates, from Southborough and Singapore, were arrested.
"Students have been clear that you can go to any floor of any residence
hall and find drugs if you want to," said UMass Police Chief Barbara O'Connor.

Her department has responded aggressively this semester, arresting seven
students on charges of dealing narcotics.

Complaints about lack of security are rife, with students charging that
UMass has too few police officers to keep the 1,400-acre campus safe.
Budget cuts last spring forced the school to phase out a 14-member security
force that backed up police, just as a succession of sexual assaults was
being reported.

But police point to alleged drug use by students as a leading factor in
recent crimes. In the latest armed robbery, in Coolidge Hall in September,
a 19-year-old student from Connecticut said two men with a handgun ordered
him to hand over his valuables. The victim himself was later charged with
drug possession and intent to distribute narcotics.

Another student who was robbed in his dorm room in May told police he
opened his door to two men who said they wanted to buy marijuana. Once
inside, they showed a handgun, took the drugs, and fled.

Cash, marijuana, and prescription medication were taken in several other
robberies.

In a survey last year, about half of UMass students said they had used
marijuana in the past year, and 35 percent had used it in the past month,
said Sally Linowski, interim director of health education and outreach.
Students report that marijuana use has increased as new technology for
detecting fake identification has made alcohol harder to buy illegally,
Linowski said in a recent interview. She said students seem to use
marijuana more often, smoking it in the morning and maintaining a high all day.

But she said most students don't connect campus safety and their own drug
use. "I always say, 'You buy it from a dealer,' and they say, 'No, a
friend.' I tell them, when you buy illegal drugs, you're bringing criminal
activity into your home, and that's a problem."

A new committee on campus safety, appointed by UMass Chancellor John
Lombardi, began meeting last month. Its members recommended the police
expansion, which will cost the cash-strapped school between $100,000 and
$150,000.

Police are looking for space in a university building to add a satellite
police station in the most densely populated residential area. The
university has already filled three vacancies on the force, and the
department will swear in 10 area college students studying law enforcement.

The school also bought a police dog, now in training and expected on campus
in February. O'Connor said police do not plan random room searches, but the
dog will be used to sniff out drugs where there is cause for suspicion.

With more money, police say, the campus could be more secure. A
computerized security system with hand-held alarms carried by students
would cost $8 million to $15 million - an all-but-impossible outlay in a
year when budget cuts have seen the faculty shrink by more than 10 percent.

But Dan Loring, the father of a freshman and a member of the new safety
committee, thinks parents would be willing to help fund the high-tech
system by paying extra fees.

Loring, who said he was concerned enough about his daughter's safety this
fall to consider pulling her out of school, also plans to suggest a more
drastic measure: Any student caught with drugs should be expelled. "That
would send shock waves," he said.