ISU and Ames police departments offer tips to students and visitors who do not envision their Veishea experience ending in the backseat of a police car.

Jason Tuttle, Ames patrol commander, said Ames Police responded to 346 incidents last Veishea weekend. Anthony Greite, community outreach officer for ISU Police said only 25 or 30 percent of arrests over Veishea come from ISU students. The rest are visitors.

“A lot of the offenses we have are alcohol offenses,” Greiter said. “Not so many [DWIs] necessarily, but public [intoxication] and possession of alcohol under the legal age. What I call secondary alcohol offenses like the vandalism, the theft, assault — things that are fueled by alcohol—we do see those.”

Grieter said there are more alcohol-related charges during Veishea than a typical weekend, but he said the increase is not unexpected with the influx of people on campus and in Campustown.

Tuttle and Greiter both said the reason for increased patrol during Veishea is for the safety of students and visitors, not to ticket students who safely celebrate during Veishea.

“Really our number one goal is the safety of the students out there,” Tuttle said. “We don’t get kickbacks for our tickets. To be quite honest, our officers don’t have a lot of time to go out and look for every single PAULA violation [commonly known as Minor in Possession].”

Greiter and Tuttle said police will be looking for those people who draw attention to themselves and pose a threat to themselves or others.

“If we see someone walking down the street and they’ve got a 12 pack attached to their back, and we drive by and they throw everything to the ground and take off, we assume they’re probably underage,” Tuttle said.

Both Greiter and Tuttle said if police see someone obviously impaired and unable to take care of themselves, they will arrest the person because it becomes an issue of public safety. A paramedic will be stationed at Ames Police’s command post at the fire station on Welch Avenue to assess any arrestees who may need medical attention. An ambulance will also be parked outside of the Armory for ISU Police over the weekend.

“We don’t arrest people because we’re mean; we don’t arrest people because we’re robots. We do it because somebody needs help. Whether they’re going to pass out and aspirate on their own vomit, we don’t know. We take preventative measures,” Greiter said. “If they need medical attention we’re going to get them medical attention. Our priority is not to take them to jail.”

Arrestees who are charged will either be taken to Story County Jail for the night and meet with a judge in the morning or will be taken to the hospital overnight and given a ticket the next day.

“We’ve had people passed out in the middle of the street and many of them don’t understand why we arrest them,” Greiter said about past Veishea celebrations. “They’re clearly beyond their limits and at a very unsafe place, so we find a place where they can be watched and monitored.”

Tuttle and Greiter said another important safety tip for students to remember is that they are responsible for their visitors. Damage done to university or city property by visitors transfers to their friends.

“Those visitors from out of state or out of town that don’t have any ties to the university think that this is just a big party,” Greiter said. “It’s a celebration. I don’t necessarily think it’s a party in the way that they plan.”

Tuttle also said that in the past, many students and visitors have gone missing because they do not know their way around Ames and lost contact with friends.

“We’ll find a lot of people wandering five or six blocks outside of Campustown and they say, ‘all my friends left me,’ and they’re drunk and don’t know where they’re going,” Tuttle said about past visitors. “At that point, we have to arrest them because it becomes a care-taking issue.”

Greiter said many alcohol-related health arrests could be avoided if students know their drinking limits and stick to a safe plan.

“I’d like to say just be safe and use common sense but that sometimes goes out the window when you start to drink,” Greiter said. “Drink in moderation. Know your limits. I can’t know everyone’s limit, but people who have consumed alcohol before know their limits and as long as they stick to that they’re pretty solid. Just don’t overdo it. Don’t make it a contest.”

Both police departments also respond to a lot of nuisance calls about house parties. Tuttle said students need to remember that house parties can escalate quickly, and property gets damaged or stolen. Ames Police receives many reports the Sunday after Veishea about stolen property that went missing during a house party.

The Ames Safe Neighborhoods police team has already been speaking to homeowners about having safe and responsible house parties in places where there have been problems in the past.

“If you do have some type of gathering in your house, usually what happens is you have some people over and then people walk by and see there’s people at your place. The next thing you know there’s 200 people and 100 people in your front yard. If you try to get people to leave and they won’t, we always encourage them to be proactive and call us,” Tuttle said.

Tuttle said police will not ticket homeowners when they know they are trying to be proactive and work with police. Police will respond to the call and ask everyone who does not live in the house to leave.