With Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day just days away, police are preparing a unified system of patrolling that will incorporate University, Champaign, Urbana, State and Parkland College departments. The system is similar to methods used in previous years, said Lt. Anthony Cobb of Urbana Police Department, though there will be an increase in focus on apartment parties.

“We have plans to target specific activities and areas, but those plans are very fluid,” Cobb said. “That’s why we’re going to have a command post set up to monitor the situation throughout the day and send out units based on what we’re seeing.”

Cobb said jurisdiction lines are not going to affect the way authorities approach the event.

“Jurisdiction is not an issue in most counties because of our inter-governmental agreement between police departments,” Cobb said. “We’re setting up plans where we try to keep officers in areas where they’re most comfortable, which is their own jurisdiction…But we will go wherever the problem is.”

Despite the flexibility among the five departments involved, Cobb said Champaign Police will be carrying the majority of the responsibility.

“Most of the problems occur within the city of Champaign because the bars are in the city of Champaign, and a lot of the problems are occurring within larger apartment complexes there,” he said.

Lt. Skip Frost of the University Police Department also said that officers will pay close attention to apartments this year because many of the activities and injuries occurred in those complexes last year.

“We’re not looking at (smaller) parties. We care about parties that have 60 people crammed into three-bedroom apartments, hanging off of balconies,” he said. “We are taking them seriously, and we will be focusing on them strongly.”

Sgt. Scott Friedlein of Champaign Police Department said campus buildings and University Housing will be strictly monitored by one police department: University Police. All of the other areas of the campus district will be multi-jurisdictional and covered by all five departments. The plan is to assign two departments to an area or activity for the day.

“For example Champaign might team up with state police to patrol bars or monitor parties. Departments will also pair up to perform regular street sweeps throughout the event,” Friedlein said.

Frost said University Police department will be involved in those “street sweeps” and the other department pairings.

“We’ll operate in conjunction with other officers to enforce traffic safety and deal with open alcohol, criminal damage to property and person-on-person violence,” Frost said.

In February 2009, Illinois State Police Department Sgt. William Emery said the department will be providing officers to assist in patrolling and roadside safety checks during Unofficial.

“We have always had a very good relationship among the various departments, assisting each other as needed regardless of jurisdiction lines,” he said. Emery could not be reached for further comment as of press time.

Frost noted that the concentration of officers to the campus district will not affect police services in areas beyond it.

“We’re not taking away from other areas. Just because there will be a lot of police in the campus town district does not mean people have to worry about a lack of public safety anywhere else.”

In an e-mail sent to residents, JSM Management reminds residents of their no tolerance policy concerning dangerous behavior near or inside JSM property.

JSM continues to state that tenants will be at risk of getting evicted for violating the rules and placing others in danger as well as causing any destruction to property. Tenants will also be subject to eviction in the case of anything being dropped or thrown out of the unit or building balconies.

Security guards will be on location at JSM properties and will be contacting the police departments if needed. JSM also encourages residence to contact the police departments directly to report any dangerous behaviors.

Bradley Tran, student body president, sent an e-mail to University students Wednesday morning regarding Unofficial safety.

Tran’s e-mail reminds students of the Student Code of the University and states that violation of the rules can result in dismissal from the University. Violations mentioned in the e-mail include behavior that disrupts classroom activity, possession of a false ID to enter a liquor establishment or purchase alcohol, providing alcohol to minors, and being intoxicated on roadways.

Tran’s e-mail also reiterated that tossing of objects off balconies could result in civil or criminal proceedings.