Pubdate: Mon, 12 Nov 2007
Source: Iowa City Press-Citizen (IA)
Copyright: 2007 Iowa City Press-Citizen
Contact:  http://www.press-citizen.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1330
Author: Brian Morelli
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

UI STUDENTS' CRIMINAL ACTS HIT 6-YEAR LOW

Despite what might be perceived as University of Iowa  students 
dotting the police blotter for alcohol-related  citations every 
weekend, the number of students with  non-traffic criminal offenses 
fell to its lowest number  in six years last year.

Twenty-five percent fewer students were charged in  2006-07 compared 
with the previous academic year,  falling from 1,678 to 1,274. Of 
those, there were 1,239  alcohol-related charges, including 400 for 
public  intoxication and 621 for underage drinking topping the  list.

"If we have students drinking alcohol under age, and  students 
violating law in other ways, it's not  surprising we have (students) 
getting charged," said  Tom Baker, UI's associate dean for students. 
"Anyone  walking around Iowa City on a weekend night knows there  is 
a problem with the law being observed."

Baker said UI has the strictest policies for drugs and  alcohol in 
the Big Ten, including a "one-strike"  eviction policy for drug 
possession in the residence  halls, the only school with fines for 
residence hall alcohol possession, and the only school with 
a  "two-strike" suspension policy for public intoxication.

"Most students don't get caught again. They learn their  lesson. We 
hope the intent is to be a deterrent," Baker  said.

However, he won't say if the strike system has been a  success or 
that it does deter student offenses. The  strike system was 
implemented eight years ago. Baker  did not immediately have numbers 
available from that  time period, and it is not clear what the 
policy's  effect has been.

The number of alcohol and drug charges fluctuates from  year to year. 
For example, here is what the statistics  on students who received 
some criminal charge look like  over the past six academic years: 
1,274 in 2006-07,  1,678 in 2005-06, 1,441 in 2004-05, 2,009 in 
2003-04,  1,709 in 2002-03 and 1,231 in 2001-02.

Baker and other UI officials don't have a clear  understanding of 
what the meaning behind these number  shifts are.

When the decision for arming campus police came up at  the last Iowa 
state Board of Regents meeting -- a  measure that passed in a 6-2 
vote -- regent president  Michael Gartner explained in his dissent 
that what he  found most troubling on campus was not an 
unequipped  police force, but an alarmingly high number of 
arrests  for alcohol and drugs.

In fact, almost 80 percent of criminal charges -- 1,002  out of 1,290 
- -- filed by UI police in 2006 were for  alcohol and drug infractions, 
such as public  intoxication, liquor law violations and drug 
possession. That breaks down to 817 for alcohol  offenses and 178 for 
drug offenses.

For drug arrests, UI's numbers have dropped. Five years  ago, UI 
police topped the list for most drug arrests  (205) in the nation 
among schools with 28,000 or more  students, according to a Chronicle 
of Higher Education  report.

"We can't control the type of crime that comes our  way," UI Director 
of Public Safety Charles Green said,  adding he could not speculate 
on what any of the  numbers mean.

These numbers can be a bit misleading, Green said. He  notes that not 
even half of the alcohol and drug  charges his officers make are 
against UI students.  Non-students accounted for 546 such charges 
while  students made up the other 456.

"Students are getting a bad rap," Green said of the  assumption that 
most of UI police arrests involve  students. "It is unfair to 
students. I try to give a  true picture of who is committing crime on campus."

Green said that despite the numbers, his officers are  not hunting 
for drug and alcohol violations. If his  officers were looking, the 
number of students charged  by his officers for public intoxication 
annually -- 224  -- could be equaled in a single home football 
game  weekend, he said.

Green noted that his officers reported 72 intoxicated  people last 
year who were not charged. On that list, 49  were taken to the 
hospital and a smaller number got a  free ride home or were warned 
and released.

"We are looking at behavior. It is not just that they  are 
intoxicated, sometimes you can see something in  their step from a 
squad car, but are they so  intoxicated they are a danger to 
themselves, to others?  Are they lying in the street?" Green said. 
"Something  else really has to draw the officer's attention to get 
that public intox charge. If you are willy-nilly trying  to go around 
town finding people who are intoxicated,  that number could be a lot higher."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman