The Hartford Courant on Yale's new head of security: Aylward resigned from the Middletown police force in April 1997 and went to work for the federal government training police in foreign countries...Considered by some as a consummate professional who refused to hold grudges against his opponents, Aylward spent his 15-year career in Middletown struggling to win over the rank and file. He received four no-confidence votes during his tenure and was the subject of numerous grievances. Some officers considered the former New York City officer to be an outsider. Aylward also believed in letting the police chief - not city hall and politics - choose a police force and promote within the department, a belief that sometimes distanced him further from officers. He worked to maintain a force strong in numbers and emphasized giving officers the equipment and tools they needed to patrol the streets. He was also dedicated to getting beat officers out on the streets patrolling troubled communities...Aylward, however, did not always have the best community relations. In 1988, he angered Middletown's large Italian-American community when he claimed that members of the police department and some city officials had "strong ties" to organized crime in the city. And in 1995, tensions mounted between the police department and Wesleyan University after four black students were arrested while walking back to their dormitory. The students charged that police had discriminated against them. A police supervisor found no probable cause for the arrest, released the students and apologized. The incident received national attention when students staged protests against the department and a special citizens' committee was formed to deal with race relations. Aylward ordered all his officers to undergo racial sensitivity training.