Increased police presence on University Hill both connects and divides students, community
The jagged edges of a shattered pane of glass are an irritating reminder of what can go wrong when young adults experience their first taste of freedom away from home.
“It was like a snowball being thrown at my door, there was no animosity,” said Hill resident David McNutt, whose window was shattered by a rock during the early hours of the morning Sunday. “The guy was just (drunk and) belligerent. It’s frustrating.”
Sgt. Lauri Wegscheider, whose assignment with the Boulder Police Department is the Hill, says complaints like these are nothing new.
Since a violent Halloween riot caused an estimated $100,000 of damage in 1999, police have bolstered their presence by more than tripling the number of officers on the Hill on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights of weekends defined as high-activity. This includes the first three weekends of the fall semester.
Seven officers are assigned to the Hill area during regular weekends, but at the beginning of the year that number can climb as high as 25 officers during peak activity hours. The reason, say police, is to educate, encourage dialogue and open the lines of communication with students and residents.
“We’ve seen some bad situations during this time of year,” Wegscheider said. “We really wanted to make an effort to outreach to the community.”
Police issued 87 minor in possession of alcohol tickets over the weekend, a number four to five times higher than normal. Police spokeswoman Julie Brooks said the increase is a direct result of increased activity, not an increased crackdown.
“When you have more people, there’s generally going to be more potential to see things,” Brooks said. “The goal of this is an educational campaign.”
Senior broadcast major Mandy Marks is of legal drinking age and received a pamphlet from the police on how to hold a safe party. Despite this, she received an unwanted visit from the police at her house on 15th St. and Euclid Ave.
A group of six people, several underage, playing beer pong on the front porch attracted the police, but Marks said there were no other people at the house and everyone was calm and quiet.
“We would have been a lot less likely to get any attention in a few weeks,” said Marks, who added that the police hadn’t broken up a party there since she moved in two years ago.
Sophomore pre-journalism major Jeremy Jerez has a different opinion. Jerez, who attended a Saturday night party that was broken up on the south end of the Hill, thinks the police presence is an unjustified attempt to bust more students.
“The cops are not out to be your friends, they’re out to (expletive deleted) you,” Jerez said Saturday, standing with friends outside the party residence. “Giving out tickets this early is just gonna get kids kicked out of school.”
Jerez did not receive a ticket.
But despite numerous similar accusations by students, Sgt. Wegscheider insists they are “100 percent incorrect.”
She estimates that 90 percent of the minor in possession of alcohol tickets given over the weekend were open-container violations, something that is ticketed regardless of age.
In addition, the 87 minor in possession of alcohol tickets issued were down more than 30 percent from last year, when 125 minor in possession of alcohol tickets were written in the same weekend.
“For every ticket we wrote, we could have written ten more,” Wegscheider said.
Some freshmen, like 18-year-old open-option major Kelly O’Neil, say the mere presence of police is enough to keep them off the Hill.
“Whether you’re drinking or not, you don’t know what could happen if you’re around (alcohol,)” O’Neil said.
In the meantime, McNutt expects to pay more than $500 to repair his shattered window. He’s on shaky ground with his student neighbors but expects everything to settle down soon.
“It’s like night and day, the difference between the beginning of the year and later on,” McNutt said. “I guess (the police) just need to try and raise awareness.”
Contact Campus Press editor Luke Morin at Lucas.Morin@thecampuspress.com.
