Less than 24 hours after move-in started Sunday morning, the IU police department had dealt with its first incident of public intoxication.
Though IU creates programming throughout Welcome Week intended to keep students on campus sober and safe, IUPD officers still report to duty in full force to keep campus orderly.
“It’s kind of all hands on deck,” Nate Koontz said from the corner of 10th Street and Woodlawn Avenue, where he directed traffic on the final move-in day. “Most of us have been around for a while and know what Welcome Week brings.”
From 7 a.m. until movers settled down after the second Freshman Induction Ceremony began, officers like Koontz manned the busiest campus streets.
Officers working nights and the weekend, however, expect a different sort of job.
After the first public intoxication incident Sunday, officers working Monday and Tuesday dealt with incidents of marijuana possession at Forest, Briscoe and Teter.
“That’s not unusual,” Chief Laury Flint said. “These are the freshmen that are coming in for the most part, and for a lot of them, this is their first opportunity to not have that constant supervision. This is the first time that they’ve really been able to make all of their own decisions, and sometimes those decisions are not good ones. So they have to deal with those consequences.”
There will be an increased number of officers on patrol and staff working dispatch this weekend, as IUPD expects crime and activity to pick up before classes begin.
Craig Munroe, Lieutenant for Indiana University Public Safety, sees an impending uptick in theft after Tuesday, when three such incidents were reported.
“We have people here from all over the world, a lot of different ethical standards and different cultures,” he said. “There are people out there who will take advantage of somebody who’s too trusting.”
He advises residents and their families to keep doors closed and locked, even for short periods of absence, and to be aware of thieves willing to break car windows. If people must keep items in their vehicles, he said, they should keep them hidden.
Alongside the increased general patrolling officer presence is a portion of the department watching over Welcome Week events.
Residence halls are equipped with live-in officers, and they should be at all dorm-specific RPS events. Flint said IUPD wants people to get to know them and feel comfortable approaching them.
As freshmen experience university life for the first time, some newly graduated officers are running similarly unfamiliar lines.
Munroe remembers his first Welcome Week assignment.
“You go from sitting in a classroom for eight hours a day,” he said. “Then you’re standing outside on the street for eight hours with a gun belt on, and you’ve got chafed hips and you’re pretty sore.”
