Arrest Fest?

Every year during the week before the Little 500 races, police officers swarm Bloomington. The races, sometimes overshadowed by the parties that surround them, draw thousands of visitors and seem to inspire students to consume an immense amount of alcohol.\nAnd every year, IUPD officers encounter their share of drunk and belligerent students.\n"Some officers came in and said they find officers get a bad reputation because (students) think we're tying to put a damper on their fun," said IUPD Lt. Jerry Minger. "But what officers find really strange is some of the things students attempt while inebriated."\nAccording to an Indiana Daily Student article published on April 18, 2005, IUPD made 19 arrests and issued 23 citations between 6 a.m. Friday and 6 a.m. Sunday of last year's Little 500 weekend. The numbers dropped sharply from 2004, when 125 arrests were made and 76 citations were written, but officers still come across large numbers of intoxicated students.\nMinger said officers remember some of the more comedic stories and that some stories happen repeatedly. \n"An officer would be driving down the street, and someone would be trying to get their attention, and the person would get in the back seat and tell them to get somewhere because they thought it was a cab," Minger said. "When someone is that intoxicated, we'll take them somewhere, but not where they want to go - jail. When you cant tell the difference between a police car and a taxi cab, your judgement is a little bit impaired."\nMinger said officers don't really treat Little 500 weekends different than other weekends, and said that police officers on a college campus have seen so many crazy things that they are rarely fazed by anything students do.\nHe said officer Ryan Corbett was once behind Kilroy's when he spotted a student urinating in public.\n"He saw a guy out there taking a leak, and as he started to pull up, (another) guy had popped out of the dumpster like Oscar the Grouch, and he had been inside the dumpster taking a leak," he said.\nMinger also said officers try not to be heavy-handed. He said officer Andrew Taylor, a part-time officer, told him that several times he has encountered students urinating in public, and often, the students take off running once they see the police.\nMinger said officers attempt to "give the person a break, but more often than not, this guy will be taking a leak and the guy zips up his pants and (takes) off running." \n"I just tried to give this guy a break and he wasn't smart enough to discern what was best for him. If something happens to him, I'm liable, and so people like that are taken into custody," he said.