Mahwah Police Working With Ramapo College To Prevent Sexual Assaults

Ramapo College introduced a strategic plan to advance campus and released recommendations from a former New Jersey attorney general in response to an alleged sexual assault there in November.

The plan, called Ramapo: Advance, was created using recommendations from third-party public safety efforts and law enforcement officials, including Mahwah Police Chief James Batelli.

College officials met with Batelli regarding enhancing communication between the college and the Mahwah Police Department regarding assault prevention and education.

“I have had an opportunity to work with Ramapo College on their plan to advance public safety,” Batelli said in a statement. ”It’s a practical approach for enhancing existing policies that will lead to stronger collaboration with local law enforcement to ensure rapid and proper handling of reported sexual assaults.”

The college will adopt a formal student sexual misconduct policy and should increase college security to reduce, and limit, the amount of drinking done on campus, which puts students at risk for sexual assaults.

The college has undergone a gradual transformation from a commuter school in the mid to late 1990s and early 2000s to a mainly residential campus.

“Although campus rules prohibit alcohol consumption by minors as well as large parties, the practice seems quite different,” Anne Milgram, a former state attorney general who wrote an independent report of the college’s security procedures and policies.