AMHERST — As many of the college students usually in Amherst during the fall semester studied remotely, town paramedics responded to fewer drug- and alcohol-related emergency medical calls and police calls declined, yet complaints related to gatherings in residential areas rose compared to the previous year.
From September through December, the University of Massachusetts only had about 1,100 students living in campus dormitories, compared to the more than 14,000 in pre-pandemic times, while the campuses of Amherst College and Hampshire College have been in almost bubble-like environments.
Statistics provided by the Amherst Fire and Police departments illustrate how the reduced population at UMass, in particular those living on campus, changed the service levels.
Fire Chief Walter “Tim” Nelson wrote in an email that his department was only at about two-thirds of the usual call volume but still saw a high level of medical needs.
“It wasn’t as busy as you would expect during ‘normal’ times but it wasn’t a mausoleum either,” Nelson said.
The 981 EMS calls marked a 32% drop, or reduction of 467 calls, from September through December in 2019. The decline was even more pronounced for calls related to consumption of alcohol and drugs, with just 33 calls, 118 fewer, or a 78% drop compared to the previous fall. Substance abuse calls made up just 3.4% of medical emergencies last fall, whereas they had been just over one in 10 calls the previous fall, and close to 13% in fall 2018.
For Amherst Police, though, indications are that the numerous rental homes where students live off campus continued to be occupied. Usually between 8,000 and 8,500 UMass students live off campus in Amherst, and most may have remained in town due to signing rental agreements the previous year.
While the police calls for service declined by 922 calls, or 14% from mid-August to mid-December 2020 from the same levels in 2019, dropping from 6,470 calls to 5,548 calls, police actually responded to 25 more noise complaints during the recent fall semester, according to data compiled by Police Capt. Gabe Ting.
Noise complaints rose from 298 in fall 2019 to 323 in fall 2020.
Amherst Police Chief Scott Livingstone said it is likely that community concerns related to COVID-19, and state limits on the size of indoor and outdoor gatherings, prompted residents to contact emergency dispatchers when noise, and the possibility of violations of social distancing and wearing masks, took place.
Officers were proactive in trying to prevent parties from becoming super spreader events, with 195 arrests, summons or $300 tickets issued for noise and nuisance house violations, well more than double the 82 arrests, summons and tickets in fall 2019.
This, Livingstone said, was an intentional effort on the part of the department due to the additional public safety concerns during the pandemic.
“We did stress to officers that the preferred response was not to issue just a verbal warning but, when appropriate and warranted, citations and or summons be used to address these calls,” Livingstone said.
Officers also took the added measure of education and reminding individuals of the governor’s orders and the town’s health department regulations. This was then followed by visits from COVID-19 ambassadors and community liaison officer Bill Laramee.
The number of minors charged with minors in possession of alcohol declined from 59 to 27 and the number of arrests related to operating under the influence of alcohol or drugs was almost unchanged, with 24 this fall compared to 26 in 2019.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
