District 1 Commander Hector Velez relieves Robert Liberati as the leader of Prince George’s County Police in this area.

Nine months ago, Robert Liberati took charge of Prince George’s County Police District 1 with one goal in mind for the university: to improve student relations with county officers. And though it’s a task many said he conquered, Liberati knows better.

It’s an ever-evolving relationship, Liberati said, and District 1 Commander Hector Velez — Liberati’s newly appointed replacement, who started last week — agreed that a mutual understanding of police and student goals will be key in moving forward.

“I’m very well aware of the trust issues, and I’m very well aware of the things that took place,” Velez said. “One of the main things between police officers and students is if people understand why things are being done, then people are more willing to accept it.”

When Liberati was first appointed to lead one of the state’s most densely populated districts, his department’s historically tumultuous student relationship had been worsened after more than two dozen students were arrested and officers faced brutality allegations in the riot following a March 3, 2010 basketball victory.

With that in mind, Liberati organized numerous safety initiatives, instituted a welcome back night at the beginning of the year and worked alongside University Police and the Student Government Association for safe celebration alternatives when Duke returned to town this year.

“The idea is to start a little bit of dialogue so they don’t look at me as a guy standing behind a shield with a helmet and a stick,” Liberati said. “They see me as a person.”

But after just nine months on the job, Liberati was transferred to police headquarters in Palmer Park for a position in forensic services. Velez, a major who formerly was the department’s assistant commander in the Bureau of Patrol, was named as his replacement last month.

Velez said county police will be focused on more non-confrontational approaches to patrolling the area but added students will need to trust police to make the partnership successful.

“Our officers go out every day. Our main concern is the safety of the students, the safety of the community,” Velez said. “That’s the main reason why we all become police officers.”

Trust was just one of the issues that defined Liberati’s tenure as commander following the post-Duke riot fall out. And though the responsibility of mending police-student relations was largely left up to the officers, Liberati said no one benefited from the events of March 3, 2010.

University Police Chief David Mitchell said Liberati’s outreach efforts were largely successful and students have come a long way with police over the last year.

“I think Maj. Liberati played a big role in improving relations with students,” Mitchell said. “He came to the Hyattsville district with the goal of improving the relationship between Prince George’s County Police and the student body. We partnered up, and we did a number of events and created opportunities for students to see us in a role other than our traditional enforcement.”

But Liberati said though his time in District 1 was a step in the right direction, there is still much work to be done.

“Are [police] out of the dog house?” he said. “No. Have we turned the corner? I think so.”

Liberati added it would be up to the students at this university, from which he graduated with an accounting degree, to take ownership of their role in mending the damage. And, while he was here, he said he saw just that.

“It’s up to the commander that follows and the University Police to see where this goes,” he said. “But I’m really proud of the university’s students for [working with police]. I could order my officers to stand down, but I can’t order the university students to do anything.”

Nearly a year to the day since brutality allegations against county police first arose, many students had mixed feelings about where students’ relationship with police will go from here.

Junior mechanical engineering major Dan Metzger said student-police relations have only gotten worse since the riots, pointing to the recent crackdown on the bar scene as evidence.

“All police are doing is coming here and ruining the already fun things that aren’t causing problems,” Metzger said. “They’re causing more problems than we would cause.”

Metzger said he has seen no difference in productive interactions between students and police and said trust issues with local authorities have even affected whether he would call police in a time of distress.

But sophomore journalism major Eric Giacometti said he’s noticed the increase in police outreach the past year, including the Welcome Back Fair and Crime Time promotions.

“It looks like they’re trying to work toward common ground, but it still looks like there’s a ways to go,” he said, adding, “They do their job pretty well. It’s got to be tough being a cop in a college town.”

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