“If you multiply that by six, you’re going to get 90 arrests in a year,” APD Chief Tom Pyle said. In 2004, 972 underage consumption and possession arrests were made.
Pyle said the APD’s central focus is not currently underage drinking, as it was over the last few decades.
“We focus more on the outcomes,” Pyle said. “When people are engaged in other behavior, we might encounter them. Perfect example would be somebody punching a parking meter or shoving somebody on the street … that might attract the attention of an officer and then in that contact about that unacceptable behavior, the officer finds out they’re really drunk and they’re 19. They might get arrested in that instance for underage consumption, but that wasn’t really the precipitous for the stop.”
The most common areas APD officers monitor are the two north blocks of Court Street because of the number of bars and Mill and High streets due to parties.
The majority of the time, officers will enter bars with the goal of thinning the crowds, Pyle said.
“If they see a bar that’s overcrowded, they’ll step in and a lot of times, officer presence will scare away the people who are underage,” Pyle said.
APD always has officers in uniform, but the Ohio Investigative Unit, or OIU, has officers wearing everyday clothing to blend in with the crowd.
Since Sept. 1, there have been 10 underage-possession arrests made by the OIU.
The OIU mainly responds to complaints from the general public and other law enforcement agencies. The agents will then investigate the complaints, which are centered around many different violations.
“It can be everything from serving underage, to over-serving individuals, and individuals with fake IDs,” OIU Enforcement Commander Eric Wolf said. “We have the authority to visit any location in Ohio that has a liquor permit. So there are occasions where we will visit locations that we know are hotspots for activity, even without a complaint.”
Despite OU’s Homecoming parade and football game on Saturday, the OIU and APD said they will not monitor differently because of the event.
“We’ll have a few extra staff on, but Homecoming weekend (isn’t an issue), it’s usually Friday night of Homecoming weekend leading into the parade and football game,” Pyle said. “It’s not nearly as remarkable as it used to be 20 years ago, even 10 years ago.”
There are fewer parties, alums and fights, and the parade is set up differently to prevent drunken behavior, Pyle said.
“(APD’s) not really in there to make arrests,” Pyle said. “It’s more of establishing presence.”