IUPD arrests exceed rival's

IU racked up almost double the alcohol-related arrests last year than its in-state rival Purdue, a discrepancy school police departments attribute to differing jurisdictions and enforcement strategies.\nThe IU Police Department reported 814 alcohol arrests in 2002, compared to Purdue's 452, according to police reports from both schools.\nThe 814 IU students arrested on liquor law violations, possession of alcohol and illegal consumption, was an increase of 335 from the previous year. In addition to an increase in alcohol violations, 338 IU students were arrested on drug charges, a jump of 141 in 2001.\nIn comparison, only 135 at Purdue were charged with drug violations last year.\nIU has a larger enrollment, at 38,589 students, while Purdue has 30,857 students.\nIUPD Lt. Jerry Minger said a lot of the increased alcohol arrests at IU are due to stepped-up enforcement.\n"Over the course of the past three years, there has been a change in enforcement policies across the board from the federal government on down as we've seen an increase in liability and severity of alcohol-related incidents," Minger said. \nThe massive increase in IUPD arrests can be linked to the fact that the police department has made a "cooperative arrangement with city police" to extend its jurisdiction into the city itself, said IU Dean of Students Richard McKaig.\nIn addition, a change in IUPD citations policy may have led to the increase in arrests. \n"One or two years ago, liquor law violations would result in custodial arrests, the process of taking a student to jail," McKaig said. "This process would tie up an officer for at least an hour. With citations, there are more officers available for response."\nThese factors contribute to the explanation of the jump in numbers over the past two years, but it does not explain why IU has consistently ranked higher than Purdue in the number of arrests from 2000 to 2003. In 2000, Purdue police arrested 188 students on liquor law violations compared to 409 IUPD arrests in that year. In 2001, 196 IU students were arrested on drug charges while Purdue only had 82 narcotic offenses.\nCapt. John Cox of the Purdue University Police Department said the differences have nothing to do with the enforcement policies of each university.\n"We're just as pro-active as IUPD in enforcement policy and our officers are very aggressive in foot patrols and building checks on campus," Cox said. "It might have been there were a lot more parties going on at IU then. There might have been a greater opportunity for excise officers to make arrests at IU (in 2000)."\nCox said that Purdue police give out citations but differ with IU police when it comes to extending policing beyond borders.\n"We mix very well with the West Lafayette police but do not cross into their jurisdiction," Cox explained.\nDean McKaig said IUPD officers cited 26 students in one off-campus party last year, an example of "campus police cooperation with Bloomington police."\nAnother reason for the major discrepancies in numbers has to do with jurisdiction over fraternity houses. IUPD maintains jurisdiction over IU greek houses while West Lafayette police have authority over Purdue's fraternities, said Joseph Bennett, vice president of university relations at Purdue.\n-- Contact staff writer Aaron Uslan at auslan@indiana.edu.