Collaborative Initiative
The Smith College Campus Police Department is part of a partnership between Smith, Hampshire and Mount Holyoke colleges. This initiative seeks to improve public safey as a collaborative, face-to-face professional learning and working hallmark of an educational culture that assumes collective responsibility for the safety of our communities.
As part of the collaborative, all three campuses are served by a central dispatch center. Our dispatchers answer calls, alarms, emergency phones and radio transmissions for all three campuses. Working together solves multiple problems. Our mission is to contribute to the safety and quality of life in our community by linking the citizens of our community, our neighboring communities, and our associated Campus Police agencies with efficient, reliable, responsive and professional services.
Our Officers
The department's full-time officers are trained professionals. They have police powers on college property (as granted under Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 22C, Section 63) and are sworn Hampshire County deputy sheriffs. All officers must complete training as mandated by the Massachusetts State Police.
Moreover, each officer is certified yearly in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and first-aid techniques, and every three years in first-responder skills. Each also attends a training session on civil rights and diversity, and four officers have been certified by the state as sexual assault investigators.
Smith & Northampton
The department maintains close working relationships with the college and the Northampton Police Department, the Massachusetts State Police and the Northwestern District Attorney's office. It is Smith's policy to promptly report to the Northampton Police all criminal activities and serious crimes committed on campus.
