Rise in alcohol tickets attributed to new ticketing policy targeting party attendees
In the last two years CU has launched multiple alcohol initiatives with the hope of informing students of the dangers associated with alcohol and how to party in a safe environment. The Welcome Back Program is one such initiative, which has the university working along side the police and the city to limit alcohol-related incidents for students.
The first six weeks of school represent the busy season for student parties and usually coincides with a large number of alcohol-related tickets issued by the Boulder Police Department. This fall representatives from the Boulder Police Department, the city manager’s office, and off-campus student services went door-to-door in an attempt to better educate students. Off-campus residents were given a pamphlet on city codes, recognizing alcohol poisoning, avoiding police intervention and how to be a courteous neighbor.
The number of alcohol-related tickets and municipal court cases in Boulder involving people ages 18 to 25 remained around the same from last year, with a spike in the amount of tickets issued for nuisance parties. Nuisance party tickets rose from 37 in 2005 to 89 in 2005. The most probable explanation for the spike is that the police department is now writing tickets to people attending these parties and not just to the ones throwing the party.
The chairman of the Standing Committee on Substance Abuse, Robert Maust, said that the long-term goal is to reduce these numbers, and that the program will hopefully have a cumulative effect as it is refined.
“Incidents peak at the end of August and go down from there,” Maust said. “We are trying to break that pattern.”
Maust said that certain areas on the Hill, Goss Grove, and Martin Acres were targeted because they perennially have the greatest number of student alcohol-related incidents. “The Smart Party” pamphlet seeks to minimize confrontations by urging students to cooperate with officers and not to make more trouble for themselves.
Mike Motel, a senior integrative physiology major, sees the program as a plus for students.
“This is helpful because everybody throws parties on the Hill, and I remember we got in trouble a lot the first year I lived up there,” Motel said.
Commander Kurt Weiler, who is in charge of night shift officers on the Hill, helped provide the police perspective for the program and understands how important a unified effort is for all involved parties.
“A more rounded solution is what is necessary because the police department can only do so much,” Weiler said. “Student leadership was a big help in getting the necessary information out and letting students know what the expectations are.”
Representatives from off-campus student services were part of the student leadership that Weiler mentioned. Said Parirokh, listing coordinator for off-campus student services, went door-to-door and said some students were more responsive than others. Parirokh said the most productive visit he had was at a house where there was already a party in progress.
The same process will not take place in the spring semester because the majority of problems happen in the fall. CU still has a number of alcohol-related programs that run throughout the year that are geared toward student assistance and education.
The Striving to Achieve Real Success Program (STARS) is for students who may be concerned with their drug and alcohol use. Students may join this program voluntarily or be assigned to it by the Office of Judicial Affairs. The STARS program helps students seek counseling, and a case manager is assigned to all students to make sure they outline a plan for each semester and stick to it.
The Parent Project started this year and gives the parents of incoming freshmen help with speaking with their college students about the consequences of binge drinking.
