Ariela Lopez, Contributing Photographer

As parents flooded campus for Family Weekend, Yale’s police union advocated for a higher wage increase through billboard trucks, pamphlets and an advertisement in the News throughout Friday and Saturday.

The Yale Police Benevolent Association, which represents officers and detectives in the Yale Police Department, has been negotiating a new contract with the University since February 2023. Often, its promotional materials have highlighted violent crime near Yale and around New Haven as a means of bolstering support for law enforcement. The union has historically targeted high-volume campus events like move-in day and Bulldog Days to make its presence known and advocate for its necessity on campus. 

“Over the last few years or so, I will say the parents appear to be our biggest fans and some of our biggest supporters,” union leader Mike Hall told the News. “So we like to be out on Parents Weekend and let the parents know exactly what’s going on around the university as far as policing goes.”

On Friday and Saturday, the union commissioned sign trucks to drive around campus from around 11 a.m. to around 7:30 p.m., Hall said. The trucks displayed billboards urging the University to “support the police who protect your students” and claiming that YPD officers have had no wage increase in two years.

Joe Sarno, the University’s labor relations director, did not immediately respond to the News’ request for comment over the weekend. During the most recent union promotion efforts, Sarno has declined to comment on contract negotiations while they are still ongoing.

Another billboard on the truck used citywide ShotSpotter statistics to convey the frequency of crime in New Haven.

Pamphlets handed out by the union on Saturday also cautioned visiting family members of a dangerous campus. Opposite from a letter from Hall addressed to “Yale Parents and Students,” the union printed a list of “headlines” of recently recorded crimes around the city. The list included three alerts sent out by Yale Police Chief Anthony Campbell and 10 articles — dated from May to September — from local news sources. Hall told the News that the union keeps a file of articles about YPD and crime around Yale’s campus.

YPBA members passed out the leaflets outside the Schwarzman Center from around 10:30 a.m. to noon, as families attending the 11 a.m. family brunch in Commons trickled in and out of the building.

The union also bought a full-page ad in Friday’s print edition of the News. Alongside the wage increase, the ad emphasized disability benefits as an important point in contract negotiations.

Family Weekend marks the YPBA’s second major action since the start of the academic year. In August, the union commissioned billboard trucks to drive near Old Campus as the first-year class moved in — a diluted approach compared to the YPBA’s move-in action in 2023, which featured inflammatory leaflets provoking widespread condemnation. Hall said in August that the “subdued” action was a response to the University’s recent appointment of Maurie McInnis — who the union believed to be a supporter of the police — as its president.

When asked why the union chose to hand out pamphlets over Family Weekend, Hall clarified that the pamphlets passed out on Saturday were “worlds apart” from those printed for move-in day in 2023.

McInnis addressed students and parents in a “University Update” event with Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis on Saturday afternoon. At the event, the president was asked to answer questions about the Yale Police Department, the University’s negotiations with YPBA and crime rates.

“All I can say is we are in negotiations for the next union contract with our police,” McInnis answered. “We know very much that parents are always worried about safety and security. We are as well. We remain very focused on that, understanding where incidents of crime are taking place.”

McInnis said that the YPD is “only empowered” on Yale’s campus and that the New Haven Police Department is responsible for what occurs off campus. She stated that Yale works in “tight partnership” with the NHPD.

The YPD’s patrol route primarily covers Yale’s campus and the Yale Bowl. However, the department can respond to emergency situations that occur off campus if needed.

YPBA’s last contract expired in June 2023.