The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

The Daily Illini

The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

The Daily Illini

The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

The Daily Illini

The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

The Daily Illini

    Police increase patrols, regulations for Unofficial

    The festive atmosphere on Friday’s Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day was accompanied by an increased police presence on campus.

    The Daily Illini reported Wednesday that University, Champaign, Urbana, state and Parkland College police departments worked together on Unofficial.

    “We have plans to target specific activities and areas, but those plans are very fluid,” said Lt. Anthony Cobb of the Urbana Police Department. “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.”

    The Daily Illini reported that University Lt. Skip Frost and Champaign Sgt. Scott Friedlein said police departments would be broken up in the following manner: larger classrooms and buildings would be patrolled by University Police; residence halls would be patrolled by University police; bars would be patrolled by University, Urbana, University and State Police; apartments would be patrolled by “party enforcement teams”; the Quad would patrolled by University Police; and the surrounding Champaign and Urbana area would be patrolled by “street sweep operations.”

    “The cops are crawling all over Foellinger and the Quad,” said Mike Peterson, sophomore in LAS, about the patrols Friday morning.

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    Arn Zhang, senior at Northwestern University, agreed and said she felt the effects of increased security in classroom buildings.

    “I’m here chilling with some friends and getting into the party atmosphere,” Zhang said. “I tried to get into a class, and I got busted by campus security.”

    Jake Caudill, junior in LAS, worked as part of the University’s student patrol last Friday. He said the student patrol provided SafeWalks and looked over parties to warn out-of-control students. Student patrollers did not issue tickets.

    “More people should approach us for SafeWalks than they usually do,” Caudill said. “We are basically going around on the Quad making sure nothing is happening and everything is safe.”

    One regulation enforced by police was raising the Campustown bar entry age to 21 from 11 a.m. Friday to 2 a.m. Saturday last weekend. Underaged drinkers caught with possession of alcohol or who were intoxicated faced a minimum fine of $310 in Champaign and $300 in Urbana or possible suspension of their driver’s license.

    Jenna Reinhardt, freshman in LAS, said she did not know why police required students to be 21 in order to enter the bars Friday because it forces people to drink in apartments.

    “I’m worried about the cops, but I’ll try and keep my public drunkenness down to a minimum,” Reinhardt said.

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