With a half-gallon of vodka, a bottle of Southern Comfort, a 30-pack of Natural Light beer and a closet door converted into a beer pong table, one of the year’s first Elkton 5 dorm parties was going strong early Friday night.
Until a newly created task force of University Police officers described last week by officials as “doing the heart of police work” pounded on the door, witnessed underage drinking and systematically cracked down on the students with breathalyzers and citations.
“I promise I’m a good girl – straight A’s corrupted by Elkton,” a confused Melanie Albert joked during her breathalyzer test. The freshman was later handed an alcohol citation on her first night of college drinking.
“I haven’t gone out all week, I had class,” Albert said, citation in hand.
But the squad of police officers – known as the Special Emergency Responses Team – were not responding to a noise complaint or a call from a resident assistant. Frustrated by a lack of activity on a rain-soaked Route 1, Lt. Alexis Marchesiello led six plainclothes officers into Elkton to knock on doors under the guise of handing out leaflets about theft.
The objective, Marchesiello later admitted, was to search out illegal underage drinking.
“We figured we had hours to kill, so we would come inside where the people are,” she said. “They should remember this as a lesson. It’s against the law.”
Despite the newly created squad, University Police spokeswoman Maj. Cathy Atwell said such enforcement initiatives to fight underage drinking were nothing new, and that high-rise patrols are a practice widely embraced by the campus community.
“We are encouraged to enter the highrises by students, administration and by our responsibility to make sure the high rises are safe,” Atwell said.
Police tactics have raised eyebrows among some Student Government Association members, however, after students across campus have voiced concern over excessive use of force complaints during a University Police-led party breakup at New Leonardtown in November and more common complaints about invasion of privacy during dorm room busts.
“Things like the Leonardtown incident show that student rights and civil liberties aren’t always held,” SGA President Emma Simson said. “Through education we can make sure … they are held in the future.”
Simson said SGA leaders are examining an effort that would post advice on dorm doors similar to posters distributed by the American Civil Liberties Union at colleges across the nation. The posters advise students they aren’t required to open their door, answer questions from police or allow police to search their dorms without consent or a warrant.
Opening the door could lead to a plain-view search if police spot open alcohol containers, as it did in the Elkton dorm party which resulted in 11 citations for partying students. Confusion over rules governing police searches demonstrates what some SGA leaders say is lagging knowledge of student rights when police come knocking.
“Students have the right to privacy, that’s why we give them an individual room with individual locks,” Atwell said in response to questions about whether the Elkton bust violated students’ rights. “I’m confident that our educational system makes clear what their rights are.”
Although all students receive the Resident Hall Association’s “Rights and Responsibilities” packet, RAs are not required to discuss student rights with their residents and do not discuss how to respond to police officers.
“The resident director didn’t necessarily tell us to make sure they know their rights – just give them the booklet,” said Shan Shah, the RA on duty Friday night in Elkton. “I went out of my way to notify them anyways so they don’t get screwed.”
In an interview on Friday during the bust, officer Bukhari Abdulbarr also refuted student assertions that police had been disingenuous about handing out the flyers.
“We’re not some RAs walking around with police badges on … I just happened to be handing out these flyers,” Abdulbarr told the group waiting to be breathalyzed. “Ask everyone else in Elkton – this is not a ploy.”
But students such as freshman business major Trevor Racioppe tend to be frustrated by what they view as intrusive action by police.
“They’re cops. They have the right to be on the floor, but they should have different things to do than assume that we’re drinking … Something is wrong with that,” said Racioppe, who was visiting his friends on Elkton 5 and was cited.
The administration, which has focused its anti-drinking efforts on education, also allows University Police to enter dorms and cite underage drinkers whenever they see fit, Vice President of Student Affairs Linda Clement said.
Leaders of several programs aimed at encouraging more responsible drinking hope preventative measures are more effective.
“There’s been a shift in the university’s policy over the last couple of years from a no-tolerance policy to promoting responsibility if you choose to drink,” said former RHA spokesman Jesse Chen. “I think students are more likely to listen to people who are telling them how to drink responsibly instead of not drinking at all.”
Staff writers A.J. McCombs and Brendan Lowe contributed to this report. Contact reporter Ben Block at blockdbk@gmail.com.
