AMHERST — At a Hazel Avenue home late Saturday night, a likely intoxicated college-age man banged on the back door and tried to force his way into the residence, only unsuccessful in his attempt when he was pushed back into the yard by the home’s occupant.
Amherst police dispatch logs indicated the man had been dropped off by an Uber in the wrong neighborhood and needed another ride to get to his correct destination.
Such incidents of attempted wrongful entries, as well as actual intrusions to homes, are not rare in this college town, and the persistence of such behavior is a concern for residents, especially for those who live immediately north of the University of Massachusetts campus. There, earlier in the fall semester, a college-age man entered the basement of a home through its bulkhead, confronting the residents while believing he was arriving at a fraternity party.
At a Town Council meeting this fall, Tom Randall of Old Town Road told councilors that the situation where he lives is untenable with the amount of noise being generated, and the town and university must act.
“The whole parade of loud students is out of control too many times,” Randall said, saying that students have shown up at the door at midnight believing a party was happening at his home.
For the Police Department and town officials, their ongoing efforts to combat these problems recently brought Police Chief Scott Livingstone, neighborhood liaison officer Bill Laramee and Town Manager Paul Bockelman out to a neighborhood for an hourlong meeting with three homeowners.
There, they explained methods that can be used to address problems that include noisy people wandering through lawns, leaving trash and urinating on lawns and bushes, and stealing property, such as street numbers.
Bockelman said is important to get a better handle on these issues as a growing number of homes are at risk of being turned into student rentals, as pressure on housing stock intensifies.
“The town has tried a lot of different techniques on our side,” Bockelman said.
Laramee said the behavioral issues, often fueled by alcohol, have been exacerbated this school year because of the pandemic. College juniors and seniors are making up for losing out on the spring and fall 2020 semesters, he said, in much the same way the current sophomore classes didn’t get to have the true freshmen experience.
Successful interventions, Laramee said, usually bring students to the table so they can understand how they are creating problems for year-round residents.
“I deal with students all day and every day,” Laramee said, adding that conversations have to happen during the day when people are sober.
Livingstone said the UMass student code of conduct applies to both on- and off-campus behavior, and that when UMass adjusted that a few years ago the town benefited by being able to hold students more accountable.
Each week, the town provides information to UMass about responses and which students have had interactions with police.
“They take actions on those students,” Livingstone said.
While his department can issue $300 noise and nuisance house tickets, Livingstone said fines are not a huge deterrent, and students often see them as the cost of doing business.
The town has collected $41,100 in fines related to quality-of-life issues since Jan. 1.
Another tactic is Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, or CPTED. Laramee anticipates holding a facilitated meeting with a fraternity where issues have developed and having its members install a fence immediately.
District 1 Councilor Cathy Schoen, who represents some of the neighborhoods most affected by bad behavior, said she worries about more owner-occupied homes becoming rentals in the future.
“Multiple neighborhoods have gone to what I call the tipping point,” Schoen said. That tipping point generally happens when more students populate residential neighborhoods.
Laramee urged residents to continue to call when there are problems and ask for a police response.
But Livingstone said the constant turnover of students makes getting control of students’ off-campus behavior issues a long-term challenge.
“In all transparency, we won’t be able to solve all the problems,” Livingstone said.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
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