Police will double presence during Welcome Weekend
The Mount Pleasant Police Department is distributing these fliers to keep students informed about their expectations for Welcome Weekend activities.
It will be hard to avoid the police this Welcome Weekend.
Every officer from the Mount Pleasant and Central Michigan University police departments, as well as Michigan State Troopers and officers from surrounding departments, will be on duty.
Officer Jeff Browne of MPPD said the goal is to protect both students and residents, as well as personal property. During Welcome Weekend 2014, police apprehended two different groups of individuals who came to Mount Pleasant solely to invade people's homes.
"Individuals coming here just to do home invasions when people are partying is a problem," Browne said. "That coupled with some of the behavior--we as a community have said 'enough is enough.'"
CMU Police Chief Bill Yeagley shares this concern. He said the weekend tends to be more hectic when CMU's academic year begins before other universities'. Yeagley said visiting students add to the number of citations and general chaos, compelling the police to have an increased presence, especially in the student-populated housing north of campus. This year, Michigan State University, Western Michigan University, Wayne State University and Eastern Michigan University start classes after CMU.
"That alone is a shock to the system," Yeagley said. "Students come here from other universities with what seems to be the sole purpose of causing problems for us."
Additional problems caused by outsiders get in the way of the main concern for police: safety. Yeagley said the biggest statistical issue the police deal with is alcohol poisoning, particularly of those who are underage or may not know their limits.
In Michigan, medical amnesty laws allow people who are underage to call for medical or police assistance without fear of being ticketed. Last year, nearly 70 students were transported out of residence halls, which are typically populated by underage students, for alcohol poisoning. Yeagley said the high number of calls is good and bad.
"The point is, don't be one of those people," he said. "I'd love to see those numbers drop, not because people are afraid to call, but because people aren't in that situation."
CMU Police Lt. Cameron Wassman said officers will approach students throughout the night to check IDs and clear sidewalks. He said there has always been an issue of people running away from officers when they're approached, which can end badly.
"The (negative) consequences will be much higher if someone runs or doesn't cooperate," he said. "Now you've gone from maybe a ticket or maybe nothing to possibly having to spend the night in jail. Cooperation is the biggest thing we can stress."
Browne highlighted the importance of being courteous and honest with officers. He noted the culture of being combative with police after incidents of police brutality entered the national conversation, something that MPPD talks about frequently.
"People are definitely less trusting in the police," he said. "They're almost standoffish to a point, and that makes our job a lot harder to do. We can't keep our community safe on our own--it's a community effort to keep it that way. You definitely shouldn't be trying to work against the police."
Yeagley wants students to keep their peers in mind, and look out for friends and strangers who may be alone and overly intoxicated. He said taking care of each other and trying to pursuade someone to keep the right frame of mind are never bad ideas.
Wassman said keeping personal belongings safe is important too.
"We get complaints of things being stolen from day one," he said. "We try to encourage people to lock their doors, don't leave valuables around. These are seemingly simple, but people often forget."
While in the areas north of campus, police stress keeping off the sidewalk and out of the streets. Browne said this part of Welcome Weekend was out of control last year. There was a point when crowds on Main Street were elbow-to-elbow.
"It was impossible to get any type of emergency equipment or vehicle in there," he said. "Before something got completely out of order and chaos ensued, we were trying to reduce the amount of individuals on the street and sidewalk. We guide people generally south and then tell them to go home."
Officers said students who party responsibly have nothing to fear from police.
"Folks who are coming here to harm others, you need to be concerned about the police," Yeagley said. "You are the people we are looking for, and we will enforce the law to its fullest extent."
