FAYETTEVILLE — If Josh Gentry wants to know where cops are stationed on a Saturday night, he doesn’t have to look far.
“I’ve seen people post stuff on Facebook or Twitter if there’s a roadblock or DUI checkpoint,” said the University of Arkansas freshman. “I’d do the same thing if I saw the cops setting up a trap somewhere. I don’t want people to get in trouble if they don’t have to.”
Police Sgt. Craig Stout said officers routinely partner with the Alcoholic Beverage and Control Board for undercover alcohol enforcement stings at area bars, especially during the first week of the semester.
At A Glance
Underage Drinking
Underage drinking accounts for nearly 5,000 deaths involving people younger than 21 each year. Of those deaths, about 1,900 are caused by car crashes, 1,600 from homicides, 300 from suicides and hundreds from other injuries.
Source U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
The enforcement division of the board enforces all laws and regulations relating to alcohol and cigarette sales in Arkansas.
Stout said police look for underage drinkers and people with fake or fraudulent identification.
“When you’re talking about having a new incoming class of freshmen every year, it’s good to get the word out that we’re here and we take underage drinking very seriously,” Stout said. “We try to set the tone early on.”
Stout said police cited four people for underage drinking and issued 169 citations for public intoxication, eight of which were in the Dickson Street area, between Aug. 23 and Sept. 10. Dickson Street, also known as the entertainment district, is home to a bevy of restaurants and bars.
While some people receive a citation, Stout said it’s up to the officer’s discretion to arrest someone.
According to state law, police can arrest a person for public intoxication if they appear to be under the influence of a controlled substance to the degree they’re a danger to themselves or others, or if they cause a reasonable annoyance to people in the general vicinity.
The penalty in Arkansas for public intoxication includes up to 30 days in jail and a $100 fine.
Stout said the Police Department used to receive grant money for its compliance effort, but that money dried up a few years ago.
“We’re having to trade a lot of time out,” he said. “In years past we had a grant that put more officers on the street looking for offenses. Now, we’re having to be more creative with what we do.”
City Prosecutor Casey Jones said university students stretch the resources of law enforcement.
“The student population is 25,000,” he said. “The number of students keeps getting bigger, but the number of employees in my department and at the Police Department stays the same.”
Sgt. Trent McKinley, public affairs officer for the Lawrence, Kan., Police Department, said his department faces similar issues with manpower. Lawrence is home to the University of Kansas and a college population of 28,000.
From Aug. 15 to Aug. 25, Lawrence officers cited more than 20 people for being minors in possession of alcohol and nearly 60 people for consuming alcohol in public.
“A fraction of our department did a specialized enforcement detail, looking for people who are obviously impaired,” McKinley said. “We’ve had several accidents where people have been seriously injured or killed so we were specifically looking for people out in the streets, causing problems.”
Stout said the goal of underage drinking enforcement is to educate students about what is and isn’t acceptable behavior.
When a student is arrested, Stout said police notify the university’s Office of Academic Integrity and Student Conduct, as well as the Athletic Department and the Greek life division of student affairs.
Scott Flanagin, director of communication for the UA division of student affairs, said the university sends an email to first-year students in July, encouraging them to take an assessment on alcohol education for college.
While it’s not mandated, Flanagin said it’s highly encouraged to educate students about underage drinking before the start of the school year.
“This year we did things a little bit different with the parents,” he said. “The chancellor sent out letters to parents of first-year students telling them about AlcoholEdu and letting them know they can also take AlcoholEdu for parents.”
According to the university’s website, AlcoholEdu is an online prevention program that uses science based-research to educate students.
Flanagin said educating parents is just as important as teaching students about the dangers of alcohol.
“Research shows that if parents speak to their children about alcohol, they are most influential,” he said. “It’s also important for parents to know that we’re working with them to curb underage and binge drinking.”
Jones said social networking is a free tool that makes it easier for officers to enforce the law.
“The message we’re trying to get across early in the school year is that we take alcohol enforcement seriously,” Jones said. “Before the advent of social media, that (message) got through by word of mouth. Now, it’s broadcast within minutes, if not seconds, to a whole bunch of underage drinkers that maybe they shouldn’t try anything that night.”
McKinley said social media hasn't only affected law enforcement in Lawrence, but also people’s behavior.
“It sometimes changes the behavior of individuals for the better,” he said. “They are more careful, such as not visiting bars on nights we’re doing enforcement or not trying to drive home when they hear we are out doing DUI patrols.”
Stout said police don’t have to arrest people to get their message across.
“Usually, we find one or two people who are underage and then they will tweet it and post it on Facebook and it goes out from there,” he said. “We’re still accomplishing the same means. It just doesn’t take as long to get the word out that underage drinking is not a good idea.”