IU, police gear up for Little 500

With Little 500 approaching, IU Police Department officers, residence hall staff and University officials are taking precautions and instituting policies to promote safety during celebrations.\nThe past four weekends, IUPD officers made an average of 16 arrests while the weekend of April 16 through 19, officers made 39 arrests. \nIUPD Lt. Jerry Minger said the week leading up to the race and the Little 500 weekend itself, traditionally mark a high number of arrests. He said the large number of events occurring around Little 500 is the reason for the stepped up security.\n"People think there are more officers lurking (on campus) because there are more events that occur during Little 500 weekend," Minger said. "At those events, it's prescribed by the University that there is a certain number of people working security because of the mass amount of people at the venues. Consequently, it produces more personnel on campus."\nMinger said while IUPD doesn't hire any more officers for the weekend, there will be more police visible.\n"People will definitely see more officers around," Minger said. "They'll have to work longer hours in order to supply the personnel needed by the university and others who have functions during the week and weekend."\nMany of the officers use Little 500 as a chance to work more shifts and make extra money, Minger said. He said other sponsoring organizations hire IUPD officers to provide security for their own events.\n"Almost all of those officers aren't working their normal shift, they're working overtime," Minger said. "It's over and above their normal eight-hour shifts. Most of the time those officers are working they're also being paid and budgeted by those other organizations."\nDuring the bike races for example, the IU Foundation pays officers to provide security at Bill Armstrong Stadium.\nCertain residence hall staffs have also instituted their own policies for the weekend. Residents in halls such as McNutt and Ashton received a memo from Residential Programs and Services staff this weekend pertaining to guidelines for Little 500. \nThe memo indicated the RPS guest policy will be strictly enforced, and all guests must be registered with the resident's Residence Assistant. In addition, all guests must carry around a registration slip at all times.\n"If your guest is found without a registration slip, she or he will be asked to leave," the memo to McNutt residents states. "In addition, according to the University guidelines, no more than two guests of the same gender per resident are allowed per night. Overnight guests of the opposite sex are not permitted."\nIn addition to a harsher enforcement of the regular guest policy, McNutt staff will also be enforcing additional policies.\n"All buildings and their common areas will be locked from 4 p.m. Thursday, until 8 a.m. Sunday," the memo states. "This includes all floor lounges, hallway entrance doors and exterior doors."\nWhile the police and residence halls said their actions are aimed at providing extra safety, many students feel negatively about the step-up in police presence. Sophomore Dave Allen was acting as a designated driver for the Sigma Pi fraternity when he was pulled over and arrested by police last Thursday.\n"It seems there's a lot more police out on the streets and pulling people over more," Allen said. "Sober drivers usually never get pulled over, and it just seemed like they were out to get us."\nPolice efforts for the race will bring together many different agencies to coordinate safety efforts.\n"We'll have officers from Monroe County Sherrifs Auxiliary, Bloomington Hospital Ambulance Service, as well as Bloomington Police Department," Minger said. "The largest contingent of officers will be from IUPD. We've had meetings and will continue to have meetings all week with law enforcement agencies from the state police down to coordinate any efforts that we may need, should any events transpire during the week."\n-- Contact staff writer Mallory Simon at mgsimon@indiana.edu.