The Tempe and ASU police departments are joining forces in an attempt to curb criminal activity during the first few weeks of the semester.
For the past few years, the ASU Police Department has requested assistance from the Tempe Police Department at the beginning of each semester to “set the tone” for the rest of the semester, said ASU Police spokesman Cmdr. Jim Hardina.
“We’ve increased the amount of officers on patrol, most working overtime, to deal with our biggest problems on campus,” Hardina said.
He points out that the two biggest problems officers are dealing with are pedestrian violations and underage drinking.
To combat these problems, officers are being put on patrol where and when these violations occur most.
During the day, there are more officers patrolling heavily congested pedestrian areas. In particular, there have been several citations given at the crosswalk between Vista del Sol and Hassayampa, Hardina said. Most of the violations are related to bicyclists going against traffic.
At night, specifically Thursday through Saturday, plain-clothed officers are patrolling the Tempe campus to seek out underage drinkers.
“We want people to know that we have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to underage drinking,” Hardina said.
Both Hardina and Tempe Police spokesman Sgt. Steve Carbajal agree that underage drinking is the biggest problem with students on campus.
“Drinking is at the root of most other crimes,” Hardina said.
By taking a proactive approach to underage drinking, officers can prevent worse crimes such as sexual assault, criminal assault and driving while impaired, Carbajal said.
Although the Tempe Police Department is not putting extra officers out, they are relocating on-duty officers to where they are needed most, he said.
Though both police departments have been working together for several semesters now, Hardina said it’s hard to tell whether the combination of law enforcement is decreasing crime on campus.
“The amount of students is continuing to grow, so it’s hard to say what kind of impact it has had,” he said.
Reach the reporter at danielle.legler@asu.edu
