Police landed 140 arrests on the Tempe campus in the first two weeks of school this semester, according to statistics from the ASU Police Department.
A DUI enforcement squad and a youth alcohol enforcement squad, both partnerships between ASU Police and other local agencies, made 133 alcohol-related arrests in this time, ASU Police Cmdr. Jim Hardina said.
Both alcohol enforcement projects began Aug. 20, and continued on Fridays and Saturdays of the two weekends that followed.
The youth alcohol enforcement squad, which targeted on-campus drinking, made 129 arrests, Hardina said. The DUI enforcement squad made three arrests, and authorities also made one other alcohol-related arrest.
Both uniformed and plain clothes ASU Police officers and Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office deputies worked on the youth alcohol enforcement squad.
Sgt. Paul White of the sheriff’s office said he hoped arrests would prevent poor decisions related to alcohol abuse by ASU students.
In the first weekend of the on-campus enforcement, 18 people were arrested for underage possession of alcohol and 34 were arrested for underage consumption of alcohol, Hardina said.
The second weekend of the enforcement netted 12 arrests for underage possession and 65 arrests for underage consumption, Hardina said.
Most arrests took place in and around residential halls on campus, but several were made around on-campus fraternity housing, he said.
During the same weekends, ASU Police worked with several other Valley agencies to catch people driving under the influence of alcohol.
“[The enforcement] was with other agencies just working around the campus to find DUIs,” he said. “It’s just like the underage drinking enforcement, only for DUIs.”
ASU Police made one arrest for DUI on the first weekend and two arrests for DUI on the second weekend, Hardina said.
Arrest statistics for the third weekend, on Sept. 3 and 4, were not yet available.
The alcohol enforcement projects ran concurrently with the Tempe Police Department’s “Back to School” initiative, which, over the same span of days, made 185 arrests. Of those arrests, 163 were alcohol-related, according to Tempe Police documents.
Between ASU Police and Tempe Police, 325 arrests were made over the six days.
“Crimes such as robberies, assault and public disorder typically increase during this time of year and are often linked to alcohol abuse,” Tempe Police spokesman Sgt. Steve Carbajal said in a press release. “Being proactive with respect to liquor enforcement can raise awareness and prevent violent crimes that all too often result from underage drinking, partying and driving under the influence.”
Although both weekend alcohol enforcement projects are complete, Hardina and Carbajal said enforcement of alcohol violations would continue throughout the year.
Reach the reporter at mhendley@asu.edu
