Plainclothes officers checking IDs were probably Excise Police

Senior Cassandra Cogswell, 21, was tailgating outside of Memorial Stadium when she was singled out of the crowd she was with by a plainclothed police officer. \n"He was wearing a Colts shirt, and just came out of nowhere," she said, "He pulled out his badge and asked, 'Can you please show me some ID.'"\nCogswell said she gave the officer her ID, and after it passed inspection, he gave it back.\n"I asked him why he pulled me out of the crowd," Cogswell said, "He told me that he thought I looked 20." \nOnly five arrests by the IU Police Department were made in the lots around Memorial Stadium Saturday, according to IUPD reports, but some students, such as Cogswell, were approached by plainclothes officers checking IDs. IUPD Lt. Jerry Minger said these plainclothes officers were not from the IUPD, but could have been Indiana State Excise Police. \n"IUPD only uses uniformed officers on tailgating weekends," Minger said, "We try to maintain a high presence, in fact, some of our officers keep their traffic vests on so they will be noticed more." \nMinger estimates that IUPD has about 75 officers and cadets working in and around Memorial Stadium during home football games. Usually officers are deployed for traffic and foot patrols about four hours before kickoff, Minger said. \nThe officers look for underage drinking, and for people falling down, staggering, or with vomit on their shirt, because of personal safety concerns, Minger said. \n"I would say for the most part it's just a really friendly atmosphere," he said, "Just alumni, students, and people wanting to enjoy the nice weather and the atmosphere." \nMinger added that there are only a few exceptions to this tailgating atmosphere.\n"I would say that it's a small percentage of people that cause a large percentage of the problems," Minger said.\nThe Indiana State Excise Police did not return phone calls Monday.\n-- Contact staff writer Mike Wilson at mhwilson@indiana.edu.