Undercover cops at my college: what can I do?

[DoYourJob]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Maine

I go to Colby College, a small, private, liberal arts college, in Waterville, ME, which is a depressed ex-textile town in the middle of nowhere. This past weekend multiple police cars came to a junior/senior dance and arrested many people. Then they issued these statements that were made the next day in the local paper, front page. This is the article

Morning Sentinel:

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

WATERVILLE -- Deputy Police Chief Joseph Massey said he will send undercover
police officers to the Colby College campus to stem the surge of underage
drinking after another alleged weekend of college boozing.

Massey said five Colby women, three of them members of the college's lacrosse
team, were arrested and several others were issued summonses after parties
Friday night and Saturday night. He said the numbers of hospital visits,
arrests and summonses for illegal possession of alcohol by minors this school
year has forced his hand.

"I will do some undercover operations on campus," Massey said Monday. "I think
the level of underage drinking we're seeing since the beginning of the year
warrants some undercover details."

Massey said plainclothes police officers will walk the Mayflower Hill campus and
will sit in parked cars, watching the comings and goings of students at Colby.
He said the officers also will try to blend in at house parties off campus
where Colby students live and entertain.

"I'm going to get officers that blend in," he said. "I am concerned about the
fact that someone is going to get hurt while intoxicated or overdose on
alcohol. It hasn't gotten any better as the year has progressed."

Massey said a police visit to a off-campus residence at 16 Winter St. early
Sunday morning resulted in the five arrests.

Those arrested included Elizabeth Kelsea Neville, 21, a senior from Duxbury,
Mass; Tracy Anne Kolakowski, 21, a senior from Darien, Conn.; and Leah Farrell
Weisberg, 21, a senior from Falmouth. All three women are on the Colby lacrosse
team; Weisberg is a team captain.

Also arrested were Kathryn Jane Roberts, 21, a senior from Chatham, N.J., and
Ashley Brooke Lamb, 21, a senior from Menlo Park, Calif.

All five women are charged with furnishing a place for minors to consume
alcohol.

Massey said police were called to Winter Street initially for a loud-noise
complaint. He said that when officers saw people jumping out of windows at the
house, it triggered suspicion.

"They saw students jumping out side windows -- there were in fact three more
students identified as underage; five were summonsed for illegal possession of
alcohol by a minor," he said. "All five women who rented the apartment were
physically arrested."

Massey said the weekend began with parties Friday night, one of them at The
Heights, a Colby dormitory. The police call came in initially as an assault on
a security guard, he said.

A guard apparently was pushed, but not injured, and no charges were brought.

Massey said a party was in progress at The Heights in a student activity center.
When police arrived, Massey said, they found students outside the hall who were
"stumbling" around, apparently intoxicated.

Officers went to the bar area of the party and found two adult students in
charge of the alcohol, according to Massey.

Colby spokesman Stephen Collins said there was some confusion inside The Heights
because other, unsanctioned parties apparently were being held at the same time
as a senior/junior prom.

He said Colby officials do not mind the added police attention, even if it means
sending in plain-clothes officers, but he stressed that some parties are for
students over 21 and are legal.

"That's perfectly within the right of the police," Collins said of the added
visits on campus. "We understand that the laws of the state of Maine and the
city of Waterville apply on campus."

Collins said the party at The Heights was a legal, school-sanctioned event with
Colby Director of Student Activities Kelly Wharton on duty that night. He said
the party was not an open bar and the two hosts were checking identification.

He said the underage students who were summonsed were from the other parties.

"The junior/senior prom was all above-board and by the book," he said.

Massey said it is the drinkers who don't go by the book that he wants to get
tough on this year.

"This weekend comes on the heels of 10 other students summonsed for alcohol
violations in the last two weeks," he said. "Add this to the 35 students that
we have summonsed or arrested since the beginning of school and you can see
we've had 60 students who have been arrested or summonsed -- that's 60 that we
know about."

He said those numbers indicate that it is not just one group of substance
abusers on campus, but appears to be a bigger problem, campus-wide.

"I think it really shows the significance that alcohol has on college campuses,"
Massey said.


Now, I am underage. I don't get blackout drunk and do stupid things. But sometimes I do like to have fun on the weekends and enjoy college without being afraid of getting randomly stopped, breathalized, and arrested. I have no criminal record. Yet I don't feel safe anymore, I fear not an attacker but the police, the ones supposedly trying to protect me.
Oh and a little side note, Waterville spites all of us because the college doesnt pay taxes since its not-for-profit.
Are there any things I should look out for in the undercover police procedures that may be illegal, or anything I can do to get around these drones.

[JETX]

Originally Posted by DoYourJob

Are there any things I should look out for in the undercover police procedures that may be illegal, or anything I can do to get around these drones.

ROTFLMAO!!!
Yep. Don't break the law!!

[RedemptionMan]

Yeah be a good boy then you do not have to worry about it. The cops are doing a job that they are paid to do and they do not care if you have a criminal record or not unless their your friends and then sometimes I wonder about them. It is all about the M.O.N.E.Y.....but do not drink in public or if you get one beer and sip it; then do that, your friends do not have to know how many beers you have downed and then you could blow under the limit and do not have to worry about a public intox or DWI charge.....

[panzertanker]

Let me guess...
Your Major is Fine Arts, right???

Let's see, you break the law, you pay the price.
PERIOD.

I am ashamed to think that one day you will possibly be in a position to make decisions for this world!

[JETX]

Originally Posted by RedemptionMan

Yeah be a good boy then you do not have to worry about it. The cops are doing a job that they are paid to do and they do not care if you have a criminal record or not unless their your friends and then sometimes I wonder about them. It is all about the M.O.N.E.Y.....but do not drink in public or if you get one beer and sip it; then do that, your friends do not have to know how many beers you have downed and then you could blow under the limit and do not have to worry about a public intox or DWI charge.....

And of course, that is just more of this idiots nonsensical crap.
The issue here is MIP.... it doesn't matter if you have are flaming drunk, or just had one sip. The issue here is POSSESSION!!!

[DoYourJob]

Apparently none you went to college...
Drinking is a part of it, albeit not school-sanctioned or legal.

Well, "don't break the law" is the answer I would've expected from a by-the-book pawn who has no capability of independent thought. I bet you probably are a fan of laws for the sake of laws as well, regardless of how just or purposeful they are.

Also Maine has this "posession by consumption" law, which I do not agree with and can only think it was put in place to add another charge to OUIs.

Here's a situation:
Im in a dorm room, and I drink a few (not 13) drinks with my friends while hanging out. We are walking to a nearby dorm and say one of us trips by mistake. An undercover cop sees this, thinks its stumbling, comes over and questions us then breathalizes someone, they fail, because you cant even have one drink without blowing a .02 (limit for under 21), and they get arrested....
Is this just? Just a bunch of kids, who are upstanding and successful members of their communities being arrested, meanwhile the meth-heads and meth labs of Waterville are not being cracked-down upon?

[DoYourJob]

Originally Posted by RedemptionMan

.... then you could blow under the limit and do not have to worry about a public intox or DWI charge.....

Isn't it not public intoxication since Im on private property, aka the campus where I live, which is clearly defined and away from any other part of waterville?

[Some Random Guy]

Just a bunch of kids, who are upstanding and successful members of their communities being arrested, meanwhile the meth-heads and meth labs of Waterville are not being cracked-down upon?

Getting caught drinking or being drunk in public does not make you upstanding and successful. Having the skill to avoid getting caught will - and may put you on the path to being a senator.


P.S. If you know who these meth heads are, then offer to give them up to the police in exchange for not giving you a ticket.

[Kane]

Drinking before you're 21 is a against the law. Yeah, it's a stupid law, but it is what it is. You can't expect the police to ignore it.

If you do it, and get caught, you'll have to face the consequences. You don't have the right to drink before you're 21.

[JETX]

Originally Posted by DoYourJob

Apparently none you went to college...
Drinking is a part of it, albeit not school-sanctioned or legal.

ROTFLAMO!!!!
Okay, all doubts are waived, you ARE an idiot.... if you think that breaking the law is some kind of unofficial college course!!

Well, "don't break the law" is the answer I would've expected from a by-the-book pawn who has no capability of independent thought.

Or a law-abiding, mature adult.

I bet you probably are a fan of laws for the sake of laws as well, regardless of how just or purposeful they are.

Yep. Laws are NOT there for your fun and exercise. They are there for a purpose... which most mature adults can recognize.

Also Maine has this "posession by consumption" law, which I do not agree with and can only think it was put in place to add another charge to OUIs.

Then don't agree with it... and suffer the consequences.

[seniorjudge]

Originally Posted by DoYourJob

Apparently none you went to college...
Drinking is a part of it, albeit not school-sanctioned or legal.

Well, "don't break the law" is the answer I would've expected from a by-the-book pawn who has no capability of independent thought. I bet you probably are a fan of laws for the sake of laws as well, regardless of how just or purposeful they are.

Also Maine has this "posession by consumption" law, which I do not agree with and can only think it was put in place to add another charge to OUIs.

Here's a situation:
Im in a dorm room, and I drink a few (not 13) drinks with my friends while hanging out. We are walking to a nearby dorm and say one of us trips by mistake. An undercover cop sees this, thinks its stumbling, comes over and questions us then breathalizes someone, they fail, because you cant even have one drink without blowing a .02 (limit for under 21), and they get arrested....
Is this just? Just a bunch of kids, who are upstanding and successful members of their communities being arrested, meanwhile the meth-heads and meth labs of Waterville are not being cracked-down upon?

Q: Is this just?

A: Yes.

[RedemptionMan]

Originally Posted by DoYourJob

Isn't it not public intoxication since Im on private property, aka the campus where I live, which is clearly defined and away from any other part of waterville?

If a police officer sees you in possession of a beverage then they can site you for public intox. all they need is possession to do that but they usually won't unless you are acting like a fool and deserve it. Several people around this site know the book laws but have no idea as to what application it serves. Annotated Law Code is only a quideline and and up to police, prosecutors, and judges to apply.

[JETX]

Originally Posted by RedemptionMan

If a police officer sees you in possession of a beverage then they can site you for public intox. all they need is possession to do that but they usually won't unless you are acting like a fool and deserve it. Several people around this site know the book laws but have no idea as to what application it serves. Annotated Law Code is only a quideline and and up to police, prosecutors, and judges to apply.

And yet another sophomoric, insipid post by RainMan.

[RedemptionMan]

Originally Posted by JETX

And yet another sophomoric, insipid post by RainMan.

are you for real -- did you write the freakin constitution of the united states - or you just some choad that trolls around thinking they know everything there is to know about the law and how it applies. If you know so much about the law then you know that it is not a static thing but dynamic and ever changing. You provide no backing facts for your comments you just make them and move on.

-- JETX - trolling the board for the betterment of legal advice everywhere... Great I know me and several people around here are soooo impressed.....

[zippysgoddess]

RainMan, what planet are you from? Geez, you are just ridiculous, and so is the stuff you come up with.