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What is MIT Police?
MIT Police is the campus police department for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, responsible for safety and emergency medical service on and around campus 24 hours a day, year-round. Its stated mission is "to deliver total quality service to all the members of our community," with a focus on maintaining a safe academic environment. The department is reachable at (617) 253-1212, or by dialing 100 from any MIT phone.
What the department handles
The site organizes its work into several areas, which gives a practical picture of what it does:
- Emergency response and dispatch, staffed around the clock.
- Patrol operations and a special services division, plus an investigations unit.
- Crime prevention, including safety seminars for MIT departments, labs and centers covering personal safety and property protection.
- Support services such as lost and found, laptop registration, bike registration and security, fingerprinting, and a SafeRide shuttle.
- Event police details for campus events.
- Reporting and transparency, including police logs, timely warnings, and the Annual Security and Fire Safety Report.
Who it's for
The primary audience is the MIT community: students, faculty, staff and visitors who need to report a crime or incident, request a safety seminar, register a bike or laptop, or check the daily police log. Prospective community members and researchers may also use the site for the annual security report and Clery Act information.
A useful next step
If you're new to campus, start with the reporting and prevention tools rather than the department pages: the "Report a Crime" link, MIT Alert sign-up, and bike registration are the items most likely to matter day to day. For anything urgent, call the 24/7 line first.
How do I report a crime or emergency to MIT Police?
Call (617) 253-1212 for an emergency, or dial 100 from any MIT phone. The MIT Police site lists that line as available 24/7.
Reporting options
- Emergency or in-progress incident: Use the emergency line above. This is the fastest route for a crime in progress, an accident, or a medical emergency.
- Non-emergency crime or incident: Use the "Report a Crime" section on MIT Police. It links to forms for crimes, accidents, and incidents.
- Anonymous sexual assault report: The site provides a separate anonymous sexual assault form for people who do not want to give their name.
- Clery reporting for CSAs: Campus Security Authorities have a dedicated Clery report form for incidents they are required to report.
Practical next step
Write down what you saw or experienced before you call or fill in a form: time, location, people involved, and any description of property or vehicles. For an emergency, call first and report details afterward; do not delay the call to complete a form. If you are unsure whether something counts as an emergency, treat it as one and call the emergency line.
For visitors and new community members
The site also lists the department's address as 565–570 Memorial Drive, Building W91, Cambridge, MA 02139, if you need to visit in person. For non-urgent safety questions, the Crime Prevention Unit runs safety seminars for MIT departments, labs, and centers, which is a sensible first contact for groups planning events or orientation sessions.
What online tools and forms does MIT Police offer for lost and found, laptop registration, and fingerprinting?
MIT Police lists Lost and Found, Laptop Registration, and Fingerprinting as separate online tools and forms on its site, alongside bike safety and SafeRide shuttle resources. The page names these services but does not describe how each form works, so a reader should open the relevant link for procedures and eligibility rather than assume a process.
What each item is for
- Lost and Found: The starting point for reporting or checking on lost property. For a concrete case—a missing backpack or phone—use this before contacting other offices, since MIT Police is the central listing point for found items.
- Laptop Registration: A preventive step: registering a device's details makes it easier to identify and recover it if stolen. Best done when you first bring a laptop to campus, not after a loss.
- Fingerprinting: Typically used for background checks, licensing, or employment paperwork that requires prints. Check the form page for scheduling and any required identification, since the site gives no details.
How to choose
| Need | Tool | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Item already lost | Lost and Found | Immediately after noticing the loss |
| Protect a device | Laptop Registration | Before a theft occurs |
| Prints for a job, license or check | Fingerprinting | When an employer or agency requests prints |
Next step
For an emergency, the page gives the 24/7 number (617) 253-1212, or 100 from any MIT phone. For non-emergencies, start with the online tools page and follow the specific form. The same page also links to crime reporting, the Annual Security Report, and MIT Alert signup—useful if your question is about staying informed rather than a single form. General advice: keep a record of serial numbers and photos of valuables; that habit supports any registration or recovery process, whatever the department's form asks for.
What safety programs and seminars does the MIT Police Crime Prevention Unit provide for MIT departments?
The MIT Police Crime Prevention Unit offers interactive safety seminars for any MIT department, lab, or center. According to the department's site, these sessions focus on personal safety, property protection, and related topics, and are scheduled around the requesting group's needs ("safety, on your schedule"). The page also lists broader safety resources the unit and department support, including bike safety and registration, laptop registration, SafeRide shuttle information, fingerprinting, and event police details.
Practical uses
- Department orientation or staff meeting: Book a session on personal safety and property protection for a new team, or as a refresher for a lab that handles valuable equipment.
- Property-focused lab or office: Pair a seminar with laptop registration and bike registration so staff know how to report and recover stolen items.
- Event planning: If your department runs an event, the site's event police detail option and SafeRide information are relevant complements to a safety briefing.
- Community awareness: Point new community members to MIT Alert sign-up and the police logs so seminar guidance connects to real reporting channels.
What to expect and how to decide
The page describes the seminars as interactive and tailored to the requesting MIT group, so the exact content likely varies with the audience and setting. For a decision, start with the group's main concern—personal safety, property loss, or event logistics—and request a session framed around that. Departments with high-value portable equipment may get more from a property-protection focus combined with laptop and bike registration; groups working late hours may prioritize personal safety and SafeRide.
Next step: Contact the MIT Police Crime Prevention Unit through the department's contact page to request a seminar, and check MIT Police for current resources such as the Annual Security Report and MIT Alert sign-up.
How can I access MIT Police logs, timely warnings, and the Annual Security Report?
All three are published through the MIT Police site, but they serve different purposes and sit in different places.
Where each item lives
- Police logs: Under Notices & Daily Log Reports → Police Logs. These are the routine record of reported incidents.
- Timely warnings: Under Notices & Daily Log Reports → Timely Warnings. These are alerts about specific incidents that pose an ongoing threat to the campus community.
- Annual Security Report: Linked from the homepage and the Resources section as the 2026 Annual Security and Fire Safety Report (marked as posted 9/29/2026). It combines security and fire-safety statistics with policy information.
How to choose what to check
| Need | Best source | Why |
|---|---|---|
| What happened recently near a lab or dorm | Police Logs | Ongoing, incident-level record |
| An active concern right now | Timely Warnings | Issued for threats requiring immediate awareness |
| Crime and fire statistics, policies, reporting obligations | Annual Security Report | Consolidated yearly document |
For an emergency, the site lists 24/7 contact at (617) 253-1212, or 100 from any MIT phone; use that rather than the logs. To report a non-emergency crime, accident, or incident, the homepage offers a Report a Crime route, plus an anonymous sexual assault form.
Practical next step
If you are a student deciding where to live or a parent comparing campuses, start with the Annual Security Report's statistics, then skim the Police Logs for the past few months to see how often incidents occur in the areas you care about. If you are staff planning an event, check Timely Warnings for current patterns before finalizing late-evening logistics.
The department also runs safety seminars through its Crime Prevention Unit for any MIT department, lab, or center, which can be a useful complement to reading the reports. The main site is MIT Police.
What are the eligibility requirements and application process for the Officer Sean A. Collier Self Sponsor Scholarship?
The page does not state the eligibility requirements or application steps for the Officer Sean A. Collier Self Sponsor Scholarship. It only names the scholarship under the department's "In Memory of Sean A. Collier" section, so the actual criteria and process have to come from the scholarship's own materials rather than this homepage.
What the page does establish
- The scholarship is administered in memory of Officer Sean A. Collier and sits alongside the Collier Medal within MIT Police.
- The department's site is the natural starting point: it also hosts related forms, the annual security report, and contact details, and the department lists a feedback and complaint route plus a general contact section.
- For a reader who is an MIT student, staff member, or family member, the practical next step is to contact the MIT Police Department directly and ask for the scholarship coordinator or the current call for applications, since deadlines and sponsor expectations change year to year.
How to prepare before you ask
Because the page is silent on specifics, treat any general scholarship advice as advice, not as this program's rules. In practice, self-sponsored awards tied to a memorial usually ask applicants to show a connection to the honoree's values — for Collier, that is community service, public safety interest, and calm judgment under pressure — plus a short personal statement, a résumé or academic record, and one or two references. Confirm each item with the department rather than assuming it.
If you are comparing options, a related MIT route is the Collier Medal, which the same page lists; asking the department how the two differ will quickly clarify which one fits your situation.
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