WVPD: Undercover officers coming to campus

[IzzyJ]

<p>From The Colby Echo.</p>

<p>

WVPD: Undercover officers coming to campus - Dec-08-2005
by KATIE HAMM [EDITOR IN CHIEF] </p>

<p>The Waterville Police Department announced that they will begin placing undercover officers on campus and at off-campus parties in an effort to curb underage drinking and the excessive use of alcohol.</p>

<p>This new policy comes after a weekend during which 16 people were cited for alcohol violations—five were arrested and 11 given summonses—according to Waterville Police Deputy Chief Joe Massey. “This added to 35 students we have already arrested and summonsed…puts this number up to about 60 and the first semester of school is not over,” Massey said. Massey noted that the department knows there are many underage students that they do not catch drinking. “It’s my opinion that alcohol has a profound and significant presence on campus and as a result of this semester with a large number of alcohol violations and we’ve had a large number of students who had to go to the hospital because of alcohol. I am going to start some undercover details up there.” </p>

<p>…</p>

<p>Massey commented that he believed the College administration has done a “fairly good job” addressing the problem of underage drinking and the dangers of alcohol. “I think administration has been responsible and has done a number of things. They certainly make the student body aware, particularly incoming freshmen, about underage drinking and what they can expect from the police. I don’t think there’s one student up there who doesn’t know the dangers of alcohol,” he said.</p>

<p>An article about the undercover officers appeared on the front page of Tuesday’s Morning Sentinel, and the story was also picked up by the Associated Press. Director of Communications Stephen Collins said that there is a concern that this kind of publicity will not be received favorably by prospective students and their families. There are currently discussions in administration about how best to respond, Collins said.</p>

<p>…</p>

<p>Both Collins and Director of Student Activities Kelly Wharton stated that the police are legally allowed on campus.</p>

<p>“The police are certainly entitled to come to campus. The laws of the state of Maine and the city of Waterville apply on campus as they do everywhere else in the state. Security will continue to cooperate with the police as they have in the past,” Collins said.</p>

<p>“It’s a private college but it’s public access. Just as they’re able to be in Waterville and in the streets, they can be on campus,” Wharton said. Wharton believes that there is a gross misunderstanding among students that since Colby is a private college, “they’re under an umbrella, but unfortunately that’s not so.”</p>

<p>WVPD does not have to alert the College when they will be sending officers on campus, Wharton said. “They can go wherever they like or do what they’d like to do. It’s a respect issue. If they come up, our Security would like to know what’s going on. When they come to campus, we already have a Security officer working with what’s going on. I would prefer to work with Security, but I will work with the Waterville Police Department.”</p>

<p>…</p>

<p>Wharton recognizes that students do not typically think of the consequences, including the possibility of being arrested, of drinking when they go out for a night. She also sees the “oh that can never happen to me” syndrome at the College—students may hear stories of others getting in trouble for drinking underage, but never consider that it will happen to them.</p>

<p>Wharton hopes that students will now be more careful concerning parties and alcohol. “My hope is no one allows someone into their parties that they don’t know, for safety and security reasons. You have no idea what that person’s going to do or not going to do.”</p>

<p>In addition to the programs such as first-year supper seminars and presentations by Student Health On Campus about the risks of alcohol, Wharton stressed the training given to party hosts and the relationships built between SPB, Dining Services and Security in regards to alcohol at Colby-sanctioned events. “Whether a cop is going to be at a program or not doesn’t affect what we do or don’t do,” Wharton said, in regards to the specific rules of party hosts and Colby-sponsored parties.</p>

<p>The events at The Heights on Friday, Dec. 2 resulted in six students being summonsed for underage drinking. WVPD responded to a call from Colby Security after a non-student physically assaulted a Security officer. When the three officers arrived at Heights, they saw a large crowd of students drinking near the Junior/Senior prom, but some of whom had come from other parties in Heights. Massey said that the officers spoke with Wharton about their concerns of a party where she was present and where she would allow students to drink and get intoxicated, and Wharton referred the officers to the two students who were hosting the Junior/Senior Prom, Justin DePre ‘06 and Annie Mears ‘07. The officers recommended that Wharton shut the party down, Massey said, and the crowd dispersed.</p>

<p>…

<a href=“http://www.colby.edu/echo/article.php?vol=CXXVIII&issue=13&section=news&id=0[/url]”>http://www.colby.edu/echo/article.php?vol=CXXVIII&issue=13&section=news&id=0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>This is quite scary. I don’t know if you guys have read the Featured Discussion Roger Dooley put up. I know they don’t have any correlation to each other; the Featured Discussion is about a legal-of-age wine/beer learning experience with teachers and students and this is underage drinking that isn’t educational, but it makes me wonder how prevalent underage drinking is among all colleges/universities (barring the dry/religious campuses) and if it has gone to this extent before. From what I read, Colby does have a bit of a “wet” reputation.</p>

<p>I wonder how much this would affect future parents of prospective students, if they should find out. If your parents read this article, would they disapprove or say that most colleges have underage drinkers and that they trust you wouldn’t illegally drink? Or if you do, don’t binge?</p>

<p>Do you think this would turn off any future prospies? Admittedly most of my classmates here aren’t jumping to go to college/uni so they can have the freedom to drink, (most of them drink on weekends and their parents don’t mind. I’m unsure what the legal drinking age is in Romania, anyway…), but from what I understand, in American culture it’s somewhat of a rite of passage? No teenager who is on the transition to adulthood would want the threat of a bust/raid when they’re enjoying themselves with friends…</p>

<p>I just hope whatever college I attend next fall won’t have extreme drinking problems, whatever the reputation is.</p>

<p>Happy New Year, guys.</p>

[vcv]

<p>The basic deal is that every college has a drinking scene; some are just larger than others. Some colleges have a lot to do besides drinking, however, Colby doesn’t have a lot to offer. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Waterville, but it’s basically got a movie theater, Applebees, a few restaurants, etc. Unless you drive to Augusta 20 minutes away or somewhere even further, you’re stuck on campus.</p>

<p>This is the case for a lot of small LACs, due to their nature of being located in small, quiet cities. Regardless, even the bigger state universities or places with better college towns are still going to have plenty of parties in the dorms or various houses that students live in. Obviously, security and police can’t monitor every party, every night, so there are going to be some problems wherever you go.</p>

[meateater0387]

<p>haha it’s going to be liek that horrendous movie “never been kissed” i would think that the “undercover” cops are going to be pretty easy to spot.</p>

[dsack23]

<p>Apparently the “undercover cops” are just officers in unmarked cars on a street or in a parking lot on campus.</p>

<p>Yes, people at Colby drink. No, they do not drink any more than they do at other similar schools.</p>