Dean College To Eliminate Campus Police, Hire Security Firm

FRANKLIN (CBS) -- At a time when many colleges are arming their campus police, Dean College in Franklin is getting rid of their campus police altogether.

The police officers claim the change is happening because they're trying to unionize.

"It's very simple: it's union-busting," says Sgt. Mike Carmody, alleging the college president dislikes unions and "canned us all immediately" when she learned they were working on forming one.

Dean College is a private, liberal arts school of about 1,200 students and 18 cops. But the college has decided to hire a firm called TeamOps. It's a private security firm that provides security for the New England Patriots, and also at special events.

The college claims they're highly trained. But some students aren't buying it.

"I looked up their qualifications online and they're very low," says one student. "The guys we have now...most of them are retired police officers, active police officers, firefighters, and they really care about their students. They're absolutely qualified to do this job, and they are getting rid of that."

The change is also happening while the school is investigating two reports of sexual assaults that occurred on campus over the weekend.

Some students say the sense of security at Dean College may be lost with the loss of the police presence.

"I know several of the officers, and I have coffee with one of them a couple times a week," said one student, "And I know they look after us."

Carmody says TeamOps is a "good security outfit, but they're just security. They're not police."

The school released a statement Monday about the changeover, which is expected to start on Friday.

"The challenges we face to provide a safe environment for our students have continued to evolve over the past several years and we feel that TeamOps is the best choice to meet those challenges head on," reads the statement. "TeamOps has provided security and safety measures for many of the largest and most successful organizations in the world and its personnel offer 21st century security tools and cutting-edge technology needed to better protect all members of our Dean Community."

The transition has been in the works for the past several months, school officials say.

"The date was chosen because the winter semester transition is the least disruptive to our students," reads the statement. "The safety of our students, faculty and staff is the top priority for Dean College and we will continue to look for new ways to improve those results."

If the college goes through with the change, TeamOps won't have the authority to make arrests and will have to call Franklin Police.