In exchange, Harvard agreed to free the sheriff's office from responsibility for any litigation or damages resulting from the actions of HUPD officers.

The agreement is renewed regularly.

"The only reason we have those powers is for the accommodation of the public," says Chief of Police Francis D. "Bud" Riley.

As deputy sheriffs, HUPD officers are "regarded in the law as peace officers with special rights of arrest in certain circumstances," as it is described in an orientation document given to all new deputies in Middlesex County.

A deputy sheriff, like a HUPD officer, may make a warrantless arrest for any "breach of the peace" committed in his presence. The laws of the commonwealth also allow for deputy sheriffs to enter any premise licensed to serve alcohol without a warrant and make an arrest for any violation of any law.

Deputized officers can't officially make regular patrol rounds through the county--and they can't enforce traffic laws.

But based on their powers as deputy sheriffs, HUPD officers could cruise around The Crimson Sports Grille on a Saturday night and round up underage students or arrest the proprietors for selling to students who were underage--if directed to do so by their Harvard employers.