Both the ISU and Ames Police Departments experienced higher than usual amounts of arrests, citations and calls for service the weekend before classes started, but spokespersons from both departments said activity was normal for this time of year.

Jerry Stewart, director of the Department of Public Safety, said from Friday through Sunday his office processed 124 calls for service.

“We filed 19 charges: four for public intoxication, two OWI’s, four drug related, four underage in possession, one disorderly conduct, two interference with official acts, and two transient merchant charges. And I would say that’s fairly typical in terms of back to school weekend activity,” Stewart said.

He said the weekend’s activity is comparable to last year’s 31 charges, including 22 underage possession charges and five public intoxication charges.

Ames Police Cmdr. Mike Brennan said the Ames police experienced a typical first weekend back, too.

He said people who saw a large van used to transport those arrested shouldn’t be surprised.

“The van is out there every weekend during the school year. So if you come out, quite typically if you’re in Campustown on a Friday night, there tends to be a lot of arrests,” Brennan said. “So if you’ve got four, five or six arrests or even more, you’re going to need something or someone to transfer those prisoners to jail because that would pretty much tie up all of our resources.”

Brennan said there were several parties held by fraternities, three of which applied for noise permits, according to Ames Police records.

Of the three that applied, only one, Pi Kappa Alpha, 2112 Lincoln Way, managed to get a noise permit for the hours of 8 p.m. to midnight on Aug. 23.

The other two, Pi Kappa Phi, 407 Welch Ave., and Alpha Tau Omega, 2122 Lincoln Way, had their permit applications denied due to previous violations.

Brennan said his department will not grant a permit if the requesting group has had a violation within the last year.

Nick Pfantz, junior in pre-advertising and social chair of Pi Kappa Phi, said his house had a violation on Aug. 22, 2008 and their party was planned for Friday, Aug. 21, so they were within the cutoff by one day.

“Last year our party got out of control with too many people coming in, so we were actually the ones who called the cops,” Pfantz said.

He said this year his fraternity was careful to take precautions with the number of people allowed inside and outside of the house at any given time, as well as monitoring the drivers licenses of people who came to the party.

“If they were under 21, they got marks on their hands, and anybody over 21 got a wristband,” Pfantz said. “People complied pretty well. We did the best we could do.”

He said he noticed the police circling the block, but their party, despite not having a noise permit, was not approached by officers.

Brennan said despite a noise permit being issued, any party might still be visited by the police.

“In fact, we encourage people to call the department after they’re set up for a party and officers will come out with a sound level meter and measure,” Brennan said. “That way folks will have a good idea of what their parameters are.”