State, local police divvy up enforcement

When the Wild West mentality mixes with a college culture of liquor appreciation, otherwise law-abiding students sometimes abide by no laws at all. \nThe legal jurisdictions of several police and government agencies crisscross the IU campus within the boundaries of Monroe County. Not including the FBI, Drug Enforcement Agency or the U.S. Secret Service, five police agencies are primarily responsible for enforcing legislative law and patrolling social order. \nTroubled students or students in trouble will most likely encounter the silver and brass of the IU Police Department, Bloomington Police Department, Indiana State Police, the Monroe County Sheriff's Department or the Excise Police -- whether the blue and gold are adorned in fresh pressed uniforms or hidden in the shadows underneath a plain-clothed façade.\nSince the University owns property throughout Bloomington and the surrounding counties, IUPD Lt. Jerry Minger said police and government agencies participate in a "mutual aid agreement" because criminal activity transverses between the campus and the county.\n"IU has the fifth largest residence population for a college town (nationwide), with about 13,000 students living on campus," Minger said. "A greater number of students live off campus."\nWhen a student, town resident or guest dials 911 to contact an emergency controller, a Master Street Address Guide computer program recognizes which police jurisdiction is responsible for responding to the call -- either the IUPD or the BPD. \nThe state police concentrate their patrols along state highways and major traffic thoroughfares, while the sheriff's department patrols the outskirts of the county boundaries and assists the other three police agencies in serving the public's social well-being; the Excise police migrate from between towns to regulate illegal alcohol activities and tobacco sales.\nCiting examples of student mischief from nights gone by, BPD Captain Mike Diekhoff said common courtesy and common sense can keep students an arm's length from the locks and chains of local law enforcement personnel.\n"We don't focus only on students; we don't have the resources," Diekhoff said. "We focus on all citizens of this community, whether they are a student or not. We get reports of people tipping over trash cans, beating on street signs, stealing patio furniture or ripping flowers out of flower beds. When you draw attention to yourself like that, there is a good chance you are probably going to run into a police officer."\nFor example, according to IUPD reports, freshman Ashley Lowery was arrested at 12:53 a.m. on Nov. 20 in front of Forest Quad for disorderly conduct, resisting law enforcement and battery on a police officer. Initially, she joined a mob of about 20 students who verbally assaulted IUPD officers responding to a potential drunk driving situation, according to IUPD reports. \nAccording to IUPD reports, Lowry was asked several times to go inside. When threatened with being arrested for not complying to police instructions, she screamed multiple expletives and struck IUPD officer Collin Whitesell twice in the chest. The perceived drunk driver was released with a warning about talking on his cell phone while driving, according to IUPD reports. \nLowry was not available for comment at press time.\n"It is really sad when things like this happen," Minger said. "Our department actually works for the students, not against them. Sometimes we have to protect people from themselves; I wish it were different. I guess college is in some ways an educational process in more ways than academic."\nDiekhoff said police officers have a lot of discretion in deciding how best to proceed with subjects when they arrive on the scene of a potential crime.\n"The officer can decide to (release) a person or write a citation versus taking a person to jail," he said. "The more polite you are, the better chance you have the officer will give you a break."\nConsidering the University community is transient, and therefore lacks respect for the local community, Minger said IUPD and other police agencies in town have a zero-tolerance to crime, no matter what it is.\n"We can only do as good of job as the community at-large will allow us to," Minger said. "Some students don't have folklorists to pass down stories from one generation to the next; they don't know how to act in a community."\nFor instance, Diekhoff said a lot of the time the police encounter people who have been drinking, but if they are walking down the sidewalk, they don't get bothered. Some intoxicated pedestrians don't realize they're supposed to walk on the sidewalk, Diekhoff said, but the police won't bother people who have been drinking if they behave themselves.\n"Act responsibly all the time, not just over the (holiday) season," Diekhoff said. "We are not against people going out and having a good time; we ask, if they do, to be responsible. A lot of people do make sure there is a designated driver or they make sure they have cab money. When you're intoxicated and walking down the middle of the road, pedestrians and vehicles don't mix well together."\n-- Contact staff writer David A. Nosko at dnosko@indiana.edu.