In the last month or so, there seems to be this tense presence every weekend of police officers infiltrating the streets of Tempe. For instance, I live in the District on Apache, which houses 70% of Greek members at ASU, specifically, fraternities, and their noise control problems are such an issue on the property. Most weekends you will see a pod of at least eight Tempe Police Department SUVs parked on the dirt lot across the street next to the notorious partyhouse, 922 Place, where an 18 year old ASU student lost her life after falling off a balcony only a few short weeks ago.
My question as I almost always pass this pod of creepy-ass police officers attempting keep surveillance on the balconies of the District and the parties isn’t, “dont you have anything better to do?” anymore. My question has now become: “You are looking in the wrong direction.”
During the crackdown of police enforcement during the Fall semester, police arrested over a thousand people for multiple offenses in one weekend. From DUIs, to possession, MICs etc., the most prominent of these citations were related to underage drinking. My roommate, 20 years old, was in our own complex and received a citation for an MIC for having a BAC of .02. After being briefly asked in the elevator where she was coming from, she stated she was leaving to go home. The undercover repeated his question and my roommate annoyingly stated “I live here, on the fourth floor…is that good enough for you?” Congrats, you won yourself a $300 fine and a court date for copping an attitude. Go you.
The moral of the story goes past “don’t snap at people you don’t know in elevators, they could very well be a police officer.” It is the fact that the police department thought that this was a tactical way to make their point. Zero tolerance is understandable; but while you’re busy busting the blond girl in the elevator who gave you side-eye, there are probably dozens of other crimes happening outside the confines of this complex that actually deserve your time.
Tempe Police Department is planning another weekend-crackdown starting tonight, before finals arrive these last short weeks of the spring semester. I hope that instead of seeing police officers stalking the halls of my apartment complex (and making me feel suspicious of myself), that they are being more observant of what happens around it instead.