As of October 15, there have been 18 DUI arrests, 168 noise complaints, 15 drunk in public arrests and 12 Student Judicial Affairs referrals.
After a comprehensive five-year study on 14 California college campuses, UC Davis, along with six other universities, was asked to develop a program called the Safe Party Initiative to address high-risk drinking and related problems. This includes a fall enforcement program during the first six weeks of school.
“The Safe Party Initiative is a collaboration between the UC Davis and City of Davis police departments to deal with high-risk alcohol issues. Fall enforcement is for the first 6 weeks of school. UC Davis and the City of Davis police departments conduct joint patrols to handle alcohol-related problems,” said Mandy Ming Li, alcohol, tobacco, & other drug risk reduction coordinator.
During fall enforcement, the UC Davis and Davis police departments share the responsibility of patrolling Davis.
“One police [officer] walks downtown on foot, one vehicle is dedicated to downtown to assist patrolling and there is a party car to respond to noise party complaints,” said Glenn Glaslow, lieutenant, patrol division commander of the City of Davis Police Department.
This collaboration between UC Davis and the city of Davis has been in place since 2003. It encourages safe partying by providing tips for hosts along with partygoers. Letters have been sent to greek life coordinators, apartments and first-year student in order to educate about the risks of alcohol.
“Fall enforcement is an effort to engage students to party safely, along with police efforts to ensure safer partying. Students who make good decisions in the beginning can plan safely for the rest of the year,” Li said.
The Safe Party Initiative encourages Davis students to be educated by distributing resources for students such as magnets, brochures and bookmarks that address alcohol poisoning, Davis laws and policies and blood alcohol concentration.
“The goal is to educate students of the dangers of alcohol, move to further enforcement and use that as a deterrent for those who are underage,” Glaslow said.
Coordinators hope that the Safe Party Initiative will be the proactive piece of legislation necessary to keep information about alcohol risk reduction accessible for students, and to keep the community safe. The police send in weekly statistics to Li in order to monitor progress.
“Safe Party deals with the City of Davis and is directed towards parties,” said Barry Swartwood, lieutenant of the UC Davis Police Department.
The program has been promoted through a letter sent to Chancellor Katehi, Facebook advertisements and e-mails. It allows students to plan ahead to host safe parties, while reducing violence, noise, injuries and other risks related to underage drinking.
At least twice a year, students and permanent residents hold meetings to keep the Davis community safe. When specific areas are found to be at a higher risk than others, further patrolling is conducted. It allows the entire community to create a partying standard.
The program works well due to support from the community and UC Davis.
“We have a really good partnership between the city and campus,” Li said.
DANIELLE HUDDLESTUN can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.
