Borough police chief to join Public Safety

Borough Chief of Police Charles Davall will soon make the change from town to gown. On Feb. 7 he will assume a completely different set of responsibilities as the Department of Public Safety's (DPS) new deputy director of operations.

"He has a very keen understanding of the community — both the University community and obviously the larger community that he's worked in for the last 20-plus years," DPS Director Steven Healy said, praising the 25-year veteran of the Borough police force. "He also has a proven track record of taking on tough assignments, which this position will be for him, and mastering those assignments."

Davall, 47, a frequent Princeton Athletics patron whose mother and grandmother both worked for the University and whose father was a University proctor, became eligible for a full state pension on Dec. 31. In addition to his University salary, he will receive roughly $85,000 each year as pension — about 70 percent of his current $123,000 salary.

When Davall announced he would seek the deputy director position, Borough officials said his decision to retire and apply for the University post was logical because he could earn more through his pension and University salary.

Healy credited Davall's appointment to his strong community policing credentials in addition to his local experience.

He described Davall's efforts to build partnerships between the Borough community and its police service as one of Davall's "most distinguishing factors," adding that in appointing Davall, he was aiming at "taking another step" with the University's own community policing efforts.

In September, Borough Council member David Goldfarb said that if Davall were selected, town-gown relations would likely improve.

"I don't think we've reached the level of understanding [with the University] that would allow the changes we want to see," Goldfarb said, referring to the longstanding tension between the University and local officials over the Prospect Avenue eating clubs.

"He could help move that process along," Goldfarb said at the time.

In Nov. 2002, Davall and the Borough Police were criticized by some University community members, including eating club graduate board members, for organizing an undercover operation in which police officers entered several eating clubs and charged four club officers with serving alcohol to minors.

Though the charges were dropped, Davall defended the police action at the time, saying that measures to prevent underage drinking had not been implemented by the clubs as had been promised to him.

In an interview Thursday, Davall said it would be "logical" to expect him to play a role in strengthening ties between town and gown, but added that he believed relations between police and the eating clubs had already vastly improved during his and Healy's tenures.

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"The eating club presidents did a lot [after the undercover operation]. I was very pleased with the results and the progress we made," Davall said. "There was a lot of collaboration in place [and] something that started out very negative from a student perspective ended up, in my mind, with a very positive outcome."

Healy said the undercover operations had no bearing on Davall's appointment. As the Street falls under the Borough police's jurisdiction, "the solution to the alcohol abuse and misuse that occurs on Prospect Avenue does not involve the Department of Public Safety," Healy said, adding that "as a member of DPS, Chief Davall will not be involved in that."

Both Healy and Davall emphasized, however, that they will continue to work with the eating clubs and the Borough to address concerns regarding underage and irresponsible drinking.

"A safe environment is first and foremost," Davall said. "Are there going to be students who drink too much? Sure. Are there students under the age of 21 who slip a beer? Sure, I'm not naive. [But] the key is promoting safety, in my mind."

Healy echoed the sentiment: "We know that alcohol is freely served to folks who are underage, which is against the law in every state. And I'm not so much concerned about the underage drinking; what I'm concerned about is the abusive drinking, to the point of alcohol sickness . . . when a person has to be carted off to University Health Services or to the local hospital."

Also, both Healy and Davall repeated that they are "neutral" about the Borough Council's proposed alcohol ordinance, which would let local police issue citations for underage drinking on private property, including the eating clubs.