Spring Street Blues

Monday 3-1-21

7:25 p.m. West College: An officer responded to an intrusion alarm in the steam tunnel fromWest College to Clark Hall, but found the entrance to the tunnel secure and no apparent cause for the alarm.

Tuesday 3-2-21          

5:14 a.m. Sabin Drive: A Williamstown resident reported that one of the College’s red-light heat-loss lamps was activated on Sabin Drive. An officer found the temperature inside the unoccupied upstairs apartment reading 47 degrees and verified that the furnace was running before turning up the thermostat. An officer will check back periodically for a temperature increase and red-light deactivation.

10:51 a.m. Chandler Gym: An officer responded to an intrusion alarm at the equipment room and found that a contractor had accidentally activated the alarm. The officer disabled the alarm until the contractor finished working in the area. 

Wednesday 3-3-21

12:40 p.m. Hopkins Hall Drive: Officers responded to a report of a man looking into the vehicles parked on Hopkins Hall Drive and pushing a shopping cart filled with belongings. The officers spoke with some staff members who had seen the man, but they believed he had since left campus.

1:26 p.m. Tyler House: An officer responded to a professor’s report of an illegal dumping at a Tyler House dumpster. Officers intercepted a vehicle matching the description leaving the area and identified the driver, who picks up compost for the College. 

1:40 p.m. Goodrich Hall: Officers responded to an activated fire alarm. The annunciator indicated that the pull station on the first floor near the restrooms had been activated, but the officers found that the station had not been pulled. They tried to reset the system, but the alarm could not be silenced or reset. The alarm eventually reset and returned to normal, and the officers submitted a work order to have both issues checked.

7:25 p.m.: The director of Campus Safety and Security (CSS) received a report of a student who tested positive for COVID-19. CSS officers enacted the College’s process for isolating the student and quarantining several others with help from the Office of Campus Life and Northern Berkshire Transport Services. 

Thursday 3-4-21

12:13 a.m. Sawyer Library: Officers responded to a motion detector alarm and, after searching the building, found a student who reported they had been in the restroom when the building closed. The student said they had no idea that the library was closed. 

4:14 p.m.: A campus-wide power dip activated multiple alarms all over campus. Officers notified Electrical and Mechanical Trades to check all critical systems, and all alarms were restored at 6:50 p.m. 

Friday 3-05-21

6:03 a.m. Griffin Hall: Officers freed a custodian after responding to a report that he was trapped inside of an elevator.

11:39 a.m. Goodrich Hall: Officers responded to an activated fire alarm by the first floor bathrooms. The officers found no fire or smoke in the building, and electrical tradesmen responded and replaced the faulty pull station.  

4:39 p.m. West College: An officer responded to a report that the south-facing door was not closing, and found the door ajar. The night was windy, and it appeared that the door may have been caught in a wind gust, causing damage to the closer. The door would not close on its own swing, and officers called Architectural Trades for repair. 

5:19 p.m. Spring Street: Officers responded to Spring Street near Pappa Charlie’s to assist a professor in locating their missing iPhone. The tracking feature identified it as being in a College dorm, and officers located the phone and returned it to the owner. 

5:37 p.m. Children’s Center: The director of the Children’s Center reported that some of the children may have been experiencing a reaction to a cleaning agent at the center. Officers checked the bottles, noted and reviewed the precautions for use, and notified the assistant director for custodial services of the incident. 

8:59 p.m. Tyler House: An officer responded to a noise complaint for the second floor, as well as a complaint of marijuana smoking on the second floor. 

Saturday 3-06-21

3:10 a.m. Fitch House: An officer responded to a noise complaint.

9:03 a.m. Garfield House: Officers responded to a report of a missing duffel bag. 

11:49 a.m. Gladden House: An officer arrived to speak with a student concerning two missing, and possibly stolen, backpacks from the hallway outside of their room. A stolen article report was taken and shared with the Williamstown Police Department. 

7:11 p.m. Stetson Court: While conducting a red light check, an officer found an activated red-light heat lamp at 73 Stetson Court. After entering, the officer found that the thermostat indicated a temperature of 46 degrees, realized the furnace was not running, and reset the furnace. An officer later checked to make sure the furnace was running and the house was warming up, which they were. 

9:05 p.m. Rosenberg Center: An officer responded to the Rosenberg Center at Hopkins Forest to speak with the resident staff member concerning an odor inside the building and an activated carbon monoxide detector. The staff member reported that a contractor had been servicing the furnace the day before and that there was a very strong fuel oil odor in the building. The officer responded with a carbon monoxide meter to take a reading and found the odor to be quite strong and the reading higher than safe levels. The on-call safety & environmental compliance officer also responded with another meter and took similar readings. The officers propped open several doors to the building to ventilate the building and called a contractor to send a technician for an emergency response. The environmental compliance officer remained and took readings for about an hour before detecting no carbon monoxide. An officer returned later in the day to confirm that the carbon [monoxide] levels remained safe.