YPD ready to handle threats, though none have occurred

Though Yale’s campus has remained secure since last week’s terrorist attacks, Yale Police Chief James Perrotti said Tuesday that his department has taken steps to ensure that potential threats are dealt with quickly and appropriately.

In keeping with a program developed even before the attacks, the department has distributed bomb threat information forms to Yale communications personnel. The cards, which are designed to be kept under or near phones, have a list of highly detailed questions to ask and information to take down if a threat is phoned in. Perrotti emphasized that while such precautions are important, there have been no recent threats — real or fabricated — made against Yale, something that has not held true for other universities across the country. Harvard, for example, has had to evacuate at least two buildings in the past week because of bomb threats. While both were false alarms, it is clear that police there and nationwide are treating every potential threat with the utmost caution. The YPD stationed extra officers throughout campus last week, primarily to reassure students, employees and city residents, Perrotti said. The New Haven Police Department took similar steps, with patrols around major buildings and on street corners throughout the city. Both departments have returned to more or less normal shifts, although NHPD spokeswoman Judith Mongillo said officers are paying special attention to mosques, synagogues and other potential targets of a backlash against the attacks.

–Andrew Paciorek

Schiavone upset that mayor won’t agree to debate proposal

Republican mayoral candidate Joel Schiavone ’58 and his campaign staff said they are displeased that Mayor John DeStefano Jr. has turned down

their challenge to hold a series of neighborhood debates before the November election. Ted LeVasseur, Schiavone’s campaign manager, said that in early September he challenged the winner of last Tuesday’s highly anticipated Democratic primary to debates in many of the city’s neighborhoods.

State Sen. Martin Looney, who garnered only 38 percent of the votes cast last week, accepted the offer the day after it was made, but the DeStefano camp was not so quick to respond, LeVasseur said. Julio Gonzalez ’99, DeStefano’s campaign manager, said there are already enough debates scheduled. “We’ve already debated Mr. Schiavone half a dozen times, and we’ll debate him several more times,” Gonzalez said. “We’ve deliberated with him extensively, and at some point, the public feels comfortable with the candidates beyond any doubt.”

LeVasseur said Yale and several community organizations have offered to host the debates, but that he is frustrated with the lack of cooperation from his opponents. The Schiavone campaign is attempting to overcome the Republican Party’s huge deficit in registered voters by targeting independents and dissatisfied Democrats.

–Charles Enloe