In a change from last year, improved and increased enforcement of underage drinking laws will be practiced by the Metropolitan Police Department. This is part of an annual effort to let students know that underage drinking will not be tolerated, said Assistant Police Chief Peter Newsham.
Newsham cited the fact that the majority of undergraduate students are below the legal drinking age and that MPD is doing this crackdown for their safety.
Police will be focusing on underage drinking and the crimes associated with it. For instance, they will be more likely to arrest underage drinkers at a party instead of pouring out their beverages.
"Officers will be focusing on arrestable violations such as open containers outdoors," Newsham said.
The penalties for underage drinking and associated crimes are controlled by the court system and have not changed.
Newsham said that MPD asked nightclubs to cooperate with this effort by strictly enforcing procedures for selling alcohol and by not posting fliers in dorms, where the majority of residents are under the legal drinking age.
Although MPD will be changing the way it deals with alcohol violations, AU policy will remain the same, according to Sgt. Gary Folckemer of AU Public Safety. Most of the enforcement for underage drinking takes place in the residence halls and is out of the hands of Public Safety, he said.
"The traditional way we handle situations like drinking is to identify the person and correct the behavior through Judicial Affairs and Mediation Services," he said. "However, if the drinking is combined with other factors and behavior, it may well lead to an arrest."
Housing and Dining Services, which is responsible for enforcement in the residence halls will not be changing policies either, according to Amber Lange, Resident Director for Letts Hall.
"This has nothing to do with Housing and Dining except that it is a District of Columbia policy and we are part of D.C.," she said. "We will train RAs the same way and they are to do nothing differently - just confront situations as they see them happen."
Katsura Beltz, director of JAMS, agreed that the initiative does not change AU services. "We're a separate system from MPD," she said. "We're going to be doing business as usual." Beltz said that JAMS does not get referrals for off-campus instances unless they rise to a more serious issue, such as cases where behavior off campus poses a substantial danger to others.
For students wishing to drink on campus, the Tavern's policies for serving alcohol will remain the same.
"We were already strict. We make all students show their ID," said Tomeka Smith, an employee at the Tavern. "And each drinker can only buy one beer at a time so we can make sure it's for them."
Guapos, a popular drinking spot in Tenleytown, will also be maintaining its policies, said manager Adriana Quijano.
"We are really strict about carding and try to control the amount of drinks a person has," she said. "We also try to sell only one drink per person."
Although AU policies may not be changed, Vice President of Campus Life Gail Hanson warned against underage drinking on and off campus.
"It was always a problem to drink underage here and it still is," she said. "The police are going to be doing stricter monitoring out in the city of underage drinking so students who want to go out and drink with a false ID should think twice"
