Monday, June 16, 2008

How Qualified is F&M's Public Safety Director?

Maureen P. Kelly, the Director of Public Safety at Franklin & Marshall College, with more than a quarter century of experience, should know how to inculcate professionalism and handle rogue cops.

Or was she following orders from on top when two members of the media were arrested on apparently baseless charges and one brutally abused?

"Maureen Kelly will be a tremendous resource to our students, our faculty and our neighbors," said President John Fry at the time of her appointment in January, 2003. "Her experience in public safety will make her a tremendous asset as we move forward with an enhanced safety presence at the college and the JSID's safety initiatives."

Kelly has the following experience:

1. F&M College's Public Safety Director since February 10, 2003.

2. 22 years of police experience with the Philadelphia Police Department

3. As a lieutenant in the drug enforcement administration task force, she managed federal, state and local law enforcement officers conducting significant investigations.

4. Worked as a lieutenant in the homicide division, as a sergeant in several units throughout the city and as an officer in undercover work.

5. After leaving the Philadelphia Police Department, she was a captain for two years with an international police task force working with the United Nations mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina. While there, she helped to incorporate democratic policing into a society recovering from civil war.

6. For two years, she was an associate director at the University of Pennsylvania supervising the delivery of services for victims of rape, violence, sexual violence and hate crimes or ethnic intimidation.

7. She was also a liaison with a number of Philadelphia city agencies.

NewsLanc questions why, with all of this experience, did the outlandish mistreatment of Ron Harper, Jr. and Christiaan Hart-Nibbrig by the Public Safety Officers take place?